Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe dead at 74

Peter Sutcliffe has died at the age of 74 after testing positive for coronavirus. 

The convicted serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper was serving a life sentence for murdering 13 women across Yorkshire and northwest England between 1975 and 1980.

Sutcliffe died at the University Hospital of North Durham, having been transferred there from maximum security HMP Frankland after he reportedly tested positive for Covid-19. 

He had only just returned to prison following a separate stint in hospital two weeks ago, where he was treated for a suspected heart attack. Sutcliffe had a number of health problems, including diabetes and obesity.

The West Yorkshire-born killer was convicted in 1981 but spent a large majority of his sentence at Broadmoor Hospital, in Berkshire, due to ongoing health issues. He was transferred to HMP Frankland in 2016 after a team of experts deemed him stable enough to serve time in prison.

A Prison Service spokesperson confirmed the news this morning, saying: “HMP Frankland prisoner Peter Coonan (born Sutcliffe) died in hospital on 13 November, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed.”

There has been no official confirmation of the cause of death yet, which will be investigated by the coroner in the next few days.

Sutcliffe became one the most notorious serial killers in Britain after he began killing women in the 1970s. While he is thought to have started attacking women – primarily sex workers – 10 years earlier, his first known murder occurred in 1975 when he killed 28-year-old Wilma McCann.

The mother of four, from Leeds, was hit in the head with a hammer and stabbed 15 times in October 1975.

Before Sutcliffe was caught in 1981, his crimes shook the nation - with police eventually being forced to issue warnings across Yorkshire and the northwest of England that women should not venture outside alone at night.

His known 13 victims were: Wilma McCann, Emily Jackson, Irene Richardson, Tina Atkinson, Jayne MacDonald, Jean Jordan, Yvonne Pearson, Helen Rytka, Vera Millward, Josephine Whitaker, Barbara Leach, Marguerite Walls and Jacqueline Hill.

When Sutcliffe was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court in 1981, trial judge Justice Boreham said: “The jury have found you guilty of 13 charges of murder, if I may say so, murder of a very cowardly nature. For each was a woman.

“It is difficult to find 108 words that are adequate in my judgment to describe the brutality and gravity of these offences and I say at once I am not going to pause to seek those words. I am prepared to let the catalogue of crimes speak for itself.”

Wilma McCann’s son, Richard, who was five at the time of his mother’s murder, told reporters today the serial killer’s death would bring “some kind of closure”.

Former police officer Bob Bridgestock, who worked on apprehending Sutcliffe, also spoke out to say he “won’t be shedding any tears” following the news.