Alma Rd. 17/11/20

This morning, to mark the 40th anniversary of the murder of Jacqueline Hill, women came to the site in Headingley where her body was discovered to remember her, and all the other victims of Peter Sutcliffe. They came to pay their respects, to leave flowers and to reflect on the violence, fear and misogyny at that time, and in Leeds still today. Emma Dolan who grew up in Headingley installed a handpainted Blue Plaque which she had made for the anniversary, before hearing of the death of Sutcliffe last week.

"I had been doing some research into the effects on women of the Managed Area in Holbeck. I stumbled across a review style website where men would leave reviews of the women working on the streets there. One of these men had the username 'Yorkshire Ripper'. This sparked absolute outrage in me. The disrespect for the murdered women, mirrored by the disrespect for the women now. I thought, How has it come to this, 40yrs later, and women are in Leeds are still worth so little.

I intend to make a plaque for all the women, but Jackie had the biggest effect on me. I was 14 at the time of her murder and my best friend and I would spend hours, hanging out, walking round the streets in Headingley, and why shouldn't we? I've thought about her for 40yrs, every time I've passed the place. Finding out that her favourite song was Bridge Over Troubled Water, and her fiance called her Silver Girl, was heartbreaking.

I wanted to make a plaque for Jackie using only words from her family and friends, people to whom she wasn't another name attached to that grim grid of photographs constantly used beside his face, words about her as a person, not about him. "

The plaque reads "Sister, daughter, housemate, friend, fiance, gentle and caring person, lovely kind girl, endearingly silly sense of humour, funny, clever, English student, Sunday School teacher, probation service volunteer, brought only goodness to the world, she was everything people wanted their daughter to be. Silver Girl."