Jim Rayner, the 62-year-old blacksmith of Carlton-in-Coverdale, was tired. All day he had tracked the killer who prowled the crags and moors of the North Riding; in ten days the victims numbered 118.
Jim and a thousand other villagers of Wharfedale, Waldendale and the emerald green valley of Wensley were joined in their hunt by a posse of army lads equipped with walkie-talkies; at one point they thought they had him surrounded, but the murderer fled to a stretch of wild country where no man could follow.
Next day he was back, and 16 more victims lay dead in Coverdale and the adjoining...