Keighley police are still keeping up their hunt for the Lund Park attacker and have not scaled down their inquiries.
That was the message Det Chief Supt Brian Taylor, the man leading the hunt for the attacker of three women, gave to people at the Ingrow, Fell Lane and Exley Head Neighbourhood Forum meeting on Wednesday night.
DCS Taylor, who took over the inquiry in early January, went to the meeting at Holycroft School to try and allay residents' fears and answer any questions.
When asked whether the reduced police presence in the Lund Park area meant police suspected the attacker had gone "underground" DCS Taylor replied: "Yes, it's a possibility that this could have happened. That's a very difficult thing for me to gauge."
He continued: "My first duty in life, before I go out and find out who is committing these crimes, is to protect life and property. That comes before preventing it. One of the strategies to do that is to have a high profile presence and that's what we did there."
He added that the reduced police presence was simply because the operational support division had finished its house-to-house inquiries.
DCS Taylor also warned that a high police profile did not frighten off Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, who was later discovered to have been driving through Bradford's Lumb Lane area at the height of police activity.
DCS Taylor also told the meeting police were in constant contact with the three victims of the attacker and meticulously followed up any new leads.
"Obviously, in this sort of event we're in constant contact with the women who have been attacked and there has been no new information come to light from those women. We did get information from people in the area, people who are perhaps not happy, perhaps suspicious about people who were out and about at the time and all those leads have been followed up."
He added: "But we don't give up that easily."
DCS Taylor was also keen to quell any rumours of other related attacks. He said that with inquiries of this sort rumours started easily.
He said: "We actually got some reports in the Lund Park area that other woman had been attacked, but once we investigated them that turned out not to be the case."
When asked if he thought the attacker was from Lund Park, DCS Taylor replied that the local geography would suggest that the attacker at least had some knowledge of the area.
One woman at the meeting queried the lack of police notices warning people at the park's entrances. DCS Taylor replied he hoped public awareness would have been sufficiently raised through the media.
"We have got to balance the public awareness side of it with public alarm increasing the fear of crime. That's why when we get offences like this that's one of the reasons we go to the press. It's to make the public aware."
He added: "People in general and woman in particular must remain vigilant. "
DCS Taylor assured the meeting that the police inquiry was on-going and appealed to the people of Keighley to use common sense.
"We should all be able to walk around without fear of attack. Unfortunately, we do not in that sort of society, so I would hope that people in general in Keighley, and particularly in Lund Park, would apply common sense and say to themselves 'I'm going out tonight, it's dark. Do I need to go out or do I need to go through Lund Park?' "
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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