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RIPPER'S CHILLING CALL TO 'SON': I need to speak to Pam.. It's Pete

SIMON WRIGHT

THE woman set to marry Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe fell in love with him after reading dozens of gruesome books chronicling his murders. Pam Mills, 54, treasures hundreds of letters, cards and photographs from the killer and has written to him every day for 10 years.

Her obsession with the man who murdered 13 women has left her children fearing for their safety - and led to her son answering a chilling phone call from the Ripper. Darren Platts, 34, last night told how innocently picked up the phone at his mother's home in Leicester - and heard Sutcliffe's voice.

"He spoke slowly and in a virtual whisper," said Darren. "His Yorkshire accent was really heavy but he sounded casual and at ease." He murmured to Darren: "I need to speak to Pam - it's Pete."

Darren said: "It took a second or two for me to realise who it was. I felt my mouth dry up and a chill shoot down my spine. I'll never forget his voice. I couldn't bear to attempt any conversation and just handed the phone to mum. She later explained that she'd read every book on him and showed me piles of newspaper cuttings on him which she kept in biscuit tins under her bed. It was unbelievable.

"She had photographs of him in albums which he'd obviously sent to her from prison. They were his own pictures of him as a young man. She had piles and piles of letters from him and she let me read parts of a few of them.

"It was obvious that they were intimate letters and that she was writing as if they were already lovers. I actually felt quite sick.

"She explained that she was a normal, red-blooded woman and that she wasn't ashamed. She says she loves Sutcliffe and that he loves her and one day they would be together. She talked about 'when' not 'if'. I tried to tell her there was no way he would ever be let out - but she wouldn't listen."

Sutcliffe, 58, has been held at top-security Broadmoor mental hospital since 1984. On Wednesday divorced Pam spent two hours there holding his hand and discussing wedding plans during her weekly visit. She has told her two children that he is a "gentle man with a heart of gold".

Darren added: "She says she loves him and that he loves her and that one day they will be together like an ordinary couple. But I'm terrified that if he ever does get out he will do something to her. As far as I am concerned, Sutcliffe is pure evil and always will be.

"How could he kill all those women? How could he do that if deep down he has a kind and gentle heart?" He revealed how his mother's fascination with Sutcliffe began the moment she saw his face on TV as he was jailed for life for mass murder.

He said: "I knew mum wrote to men in prison as a penpal. I've been in and out of jail most of my life for burglary and she knew what life inside was like. She felt sorry for people in prison.

"She knew they'd done wrong and deserved to be there - but she's a compassionate person. I admired her for it. But when she told me one of her penpals was the Yorkshire Ripper I couldn't believe it.

"I told her I was horrified and she must be mad. I asked her how it had all started and she says that she'd always found him a handsome man and that he'd turned her head in that way the moment she saw him on the TV after his conviction."

Darren, who admits he has a drug problem, shares a house near his mum with his partner Guinevere and their four-year-old daughter Jessie. They also have a boy of nine who has lived all his life with Pam because his parents couldn't cope. "Mum's been brilliant and I love her dearly," says Darren. "But I just don't know what she is doing getting involved with a man like Sutcliffe. She says he is a kind and gentle man and that he HAS changed. But I don't believe it. And what if Sutcliffe gets out?

"I don't want to be his stepson - but I want even less for him to live under the same roof as my son and act as some kind of father figure to him.

"I've pleaded with mum not to go ahead with the wedding - and now she's told me the ring she's wearing is just a friendship ring. But I don't know what to believe."

He added: "I haven't been able to bring myself to talk to mum properly about it yet. She just told me she loved him and he loved her. If she marries him I won't acknowledge him. How could I? He's the Yorkshire Ripper, for God's sake.

"My sister Amanda feels the same. She can't believe it's happening but I think she's trying to be there for mum to support her.

"Now the relationship with Sutcliffe is common knowledge, we're all worried about reprisals from people. There are some nutters out there and we're terrified of being victimised.

"People don't forget crimes like his and I can understand that some will feel angry.

"Then there are the families of his victims. What must they be thinking? This must be so distressing for them.

"Mum's been trying to hide away, but people know who she is. They know who Amanda and I are too and we're scared to go out.

"We're a close family but this is testing us to our limits. I don't know what's going to happen but I do know that I want mum to see sense and to stop - - for her sake, our sakes and for the sakes of the victims' families."

Last night Pam insisted: "There's no engagement. We are just friends and have been for many years."

HIS TRAIL OF BLOOD YORKSHIRE Ripper Sutcliffe murdered 13 women in a five-year killing spree in Yorkshire and Manchester.

He tried to kill seven more, hitting out with a hammer, knife and screwdriver. His slaughter of Emily Jackson (below), who was stabbed more than 50 times earned him the tag "Ripper". He was given 13 life sentences in 1981 and transferred from prison to Broadmoor in 1984. Declared criminally insane, he has remained there ever since.

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