Beast of Wombwell rape case: Accuser 'scared to go to police'

Peter Pickering admitted the manslaughter by diminished responsibility of Shirley Boldy, 14, in 1972

A child killer dubbed the Beast of Wombwell "went berserk" when he kidnapped and raped an 18-year-old, a court has heard.

Peter Pickering, 80, is accused of attacking the woman in Sheffield in 1972, just weeks before he went on to kill a 14-year-old girl.

His accuser told Leeds Crown Court he had lured her into his van before tying her up and sexually assaulting her.

Pickering denies rape and false imprisonment.

He has been detained since admitting the manslaughter by diminished responsibility of Shirley Boldy more than 40 years ago.

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Giving evidence from behind a screen, the earlier victim, now in her 60s, told jurors Pickering had burned her breasts with cigarettes and threatened to kill her.

She got into his van voluntarily, she said, and he suddenly changed from being amiable and pleasant to acting like a "mad man".

Sasha Wass QC, defending, suggested the Pickering's notoriety at the time should have enabled his accuser to "put two and two together" and figure out his identity.

'A monster'

The woman told the barrister she was naive and had lived a closeted existence with her strict family.

"Years later, I actually thought he was [Yorkshire Ripper] Peter Sutcliffe," she said.

The woman told jurors she did not think she would have been believed if she had reported the attack in the 1970s, and had to be persuaded by police to co-operate in 2016.

She said: "I remain of the fervent belief that whether he has a mental illness or not the man is a monster and wherever he is now that's the right place for him to be."

Leeds Crown Court has heard how, three to four weeks after this alleged attack, Pickering abducted, raped and killed Shirley Boldy in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

Subjected to a hospital order he has been in secure psychiatric hospitals, including Broadmoor, since 1972.

He is currently held at Thornford Park Hospital, in Berkshire.

The woman, now in her 60s, gave evidence from behind a screen at Leeds Crown Court