Peter Sutcliffe victim highlights 'imbalance of justice' for women

Artist Mo Lea projected her animated artwork onto the Houses of Parliament

A woman who it is believed was attacked by serial killer Peter Sutcliffe has highlighted injustices for women on the 40th anniversary of his conviction.

Mo Lea, 61, from Bedford, was an art student in Leeds in 1980 when she was attacked by a man with a hammer.

She has been named as one of the likely victims of Sutcliffe, but no charges were brought before his death in 2020.

Ms Lea's animated image of Lady Justice emptying her scales has been beamed onto the Houses of Parliament.

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Sutcliffe was convicted on 22 May 1981 of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others.

He died at a hospital in County Durham in November 2020, aged 74, while serving a whole-life term at the maximum security Frankland jail.

Ms Lea's image shows Lady Justice tipping female symbols onto the ground

A report in 1982 by Sir Lawrence Byford, which was only made public in 2006, found Sutcliffe could have been responsible for 13 more offences.

Ms Lea was named in redacted parts of the Byford Report, which made a string of recommendations to West Yorkshire Police, but no further charges were brought against Sutcliffe despite a reinvestigation.

To mark the 40th anniversary of Sutcliffe's conviction, an animation by Ms Lea, showing the famous Lady Justice statue pouring out female gender symbols from the scales of justice, was projected onto the Houses of Parliament, where the Byford Report remains in the library.

Ms Lea said the animation represented "the negative imbalance of justice towards women".

"The art projection raises the question, asking what progress has been made in the police and legal systems to support women who have been victims of violent attacks.

"This represents the negative imbalance of justice towards women," she said.

The women murdered by Peter Sutcliffe

Peter Sutcliffe, who was convicted of murdering 13 women, died in November 2020

• Wilma McCann, 28, Leeds, October 1975

• Emily Jackson, 42, Leeds, January 1976

• Irene Richardson, 28, Leeds, February 1977

• Patricia Atkinson, 32, Bradford, April 1977

• Jayne McDonald, 16, Leeds, June 1977

• Jean Jordan, 21, Manchester, October 1977

• Yvonne Pearson, 22, Bradford, January 1978

• Helen Rytka, 18, Huddersfield, January 1978

• Vera Millward, 41, Manchester, May 1978

• Josephine Whittaker, 19, Halifax, May 1979

• Barbara Leach, 20, Bradford, September 1979

• Marguerite Walls, 47, Leeds, August 1980

• Jacqueline Hill, 20, Leeds, November 1980

Ms Lea, author of Facing the Yorkshire Ripper: The Art Of Survival, said recent events such as the Me Too movement and the death of Sarah Everard showed the "dismissive" attitude towards female victims and "prevailing misogyny".

She said: "It's a call to educate the police in their training courses to improve their response when females make allegations of attacks.

"It's a call to Parliament to improve legal proceedings for women who are victims of assault."

Ms Lea also said she supported women's charity Ending Violence Against Women.