I SEE THE RIPPER IN MY SLEEP, HE STOLE MY SOUL

Torment of taxi driver after hammer attack

- ED GLEAVE

A TAXI driver who believes he was bludgeoned by Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe is still haunted by him 54 years on.

John Tomey was lucky to survive after being brutally battered with a hammer in his car in 1967.

It left him with brain damage and a lifetime of trauma. He said: “I’d like to think I could put it behind me, but it’s in my memory 24/7. He’s there when I sleep. He’s there when I dream.

“Who would want to remember a bastard like him? He stole my soul.”

John says he vividly remembers picking up Sutcliffe in Leeds city centre. In a new Channel 5 documentary, he said: “We set off. Then he explained he’d got no money.

“I wasn’t worried a bit about my safety. But I was getting concerned about not getting paid.