Police quizzed scores of North-East men as the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper grew increasingly desperate. One of them was Northern Echo journalist John Hobbs. He tells his story here.

AS a BBC radio news reporter in the 1970s I was more used to covering the news rather than becoming part of it.

But I will never forget that night late in 1978 when I suddenly became a suspect in the hunt for Wearside Jack.

Two detectives had called earlier in the day at our home in Burnopfield, North-West Durham, where my wife, Tricia, told them I was out at work. They came back that night at around 7pm.

What followed was one of the weirdest experiences of my life, which at times bordered on the ridiculous, but also became quite alarming.

The detectives, who had been drafted into the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry, focused their questioning on the fact that I had run the BBC Radio Newcastle newsroom in Holmside, Sunderland for a year before moving on to Leeds to work as a news producer.

Working with tape and a Uher recorder were tools of the trade for every BBC radio reporter - and the hoax Ripper tapes were an important part of the inquiry.

After asking me questions about my family and background, which included the names of my parents, the detectives asked me about my movements in Leeds and Sunderland.

They then asked me my blood group and examined my teeth, but I could never understand the reason for this.

We then moved upstairs to one of the bedrooms in our modest semi-detached home, where I opened a wardrobe for them to make a detailed examination of all my shoes.

Nothing was taken away, and more questions followed about my work for the BBC in Leeds and Sunderland. They seemed satisfied by the answers. Around two hours later they left. There was no apology, or real explanation about their detailed inquiries.

I was left as puzzled then as when they had first turned up at my front door.