Hull was gripped by fear in the early autumn of 1967. A sex fiend had attacked a 15-year-old girl on June 5th, raped and murdered another 15-year-old in September, and attacked a 17-year-old in October.
The murder victim, attractive Margaret Lowson, was stripped, raped and mutilated in Pig Alley, in the citys docklands. As the hue and cry began to find the attacker, Samuel Stephenson, 33, a labourer, was routinely interviewed and confessed to all three sex attacks.
Stephenson had a history of mental illness, and on DECEMBER 18th, 1967, the Crown at Leeds Assizes accepted his plea of diminished responsibility. He was ordered to be detained in Rampton Special Hospital indefinitely.