Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, 74, is 'gravely ill' in hospital after refusing medical treatment for coronavirus
- Peter Sutcliffe, 74, refusing all treatment at University Hospital of North Durham
- Yorkshire Ripper is 'gravely ill' with covid-19 complications and heart issues
- He was discharged from hospital on Tuesday but tested covid-19 positive Friday
Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe (pictured)
The Yorkshire Ripper is 'gravely ill' after refusing medical treatment in the wake of heart problems and coronavirus complications.
Peter Sutcliffe, 74, who murdered at least 13 women in the 70s and 80s, returned to top security HMP Frankland, Co Durham, on Tuesday after a five night stay in hospital with heart problems.
However on his return to the jail's medical isolation unit Sutcliffe began to complain again of shortness of breath and chest pain, later testing positive for covid-19 on Friday.
He was being monitored in isolation at the jail over the weekend when his health began to deteriorate.
The notorious serial killer was then re-admitted to hospital on Sunday.
It was his second stay at the University Hospital of North Durham in less than a week.
On his first visit he spent five nights there, from November 3, and was discharged after testing negative for Covid - he had complained of covid-19-like symptoms on admission to hospital.
One source told the Mail: 'He's gravely ill.
'Sutcliffe's overweight, in his 70s and has pre-existing health conditions. Covid could easily finish him off.'
Sutcliffe, 74, who is serving life for his horrific crimes, has suffered from angina, diabetes and near-blindness following an attack from a fellow inmate, in recent years
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'We do not comment on individual prisoners.'
He has previously complained of health issues, including breathlessness, and claims he is suffering from long-term coronavirus symptoms.
'Difficulty getting my breath, could barely sleep,' he reportedly said last week.
'I hope I can breathe and get some sleep when I hit the sack tonight or I'll have to report myself sick tomorrow.'
The University Hospital of North Durham, County Durham, where Peter Sutcliffe is being treated for covid-19 complications and heart problems
According to a source who spoke to the Sun: 'He started showing symptoms on Thursday.
'The results were turned around quickly because of the danger of him spreading it.
'The worry for him is that he ticks so many of the danger categories for coronavirus.
'He is already in ill health, he is overweight and he is old. If things go downhill for him, it could be very, very serious.'
Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, received 20 concurrent life sentences for his attacks and the murder of 13 women. (Pictured) Sutcliffe on his wedding day on August 10, 1974
Picture of mother-of-four Wilma McCann, one of his first victims, (left) and Leeds University student Jacqueline Hill, his 13th and last known victim, who was found dead in the city in 1980
Peter Sutcliffe Peter Sutcliffe in prison van on way to the Old Bailey in London, May 1981
The mass murderer, who is said to be terrified of Covid-19, has turned away visitors throughout the pandemic.
In recent years he has suffered from angina, diabetes and near-blindness following an attack from a fellow inmate.
He said: 'My eyesight is getting worse – I'm bumping into people.
'I've been completely blind in one eye for 20 years and the other one is deteriorating at a fair old rate.
He has previously spoken of his anger at being handcuffed during a hospital visit.
'It's absolutely stupid,' he said.
'Where was I going to go in a hospital gown? And how could I get out of the hospital? It was like a maze, a massive place. I wouldn't even attempt it any way.
Crowds gathered outside Dewsbury court in England after the Yorkshire Ripper was caught and appeared there to be charged with the murder of Jacqueline Hill'I've no intention of doing a runner ... just this stupid category A rules they've got.'
Three years after he was jailed, Sutcliffe was moved to Broadmoor Hospital after he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
He was transferred to HMP Frankland in 2016 after psychiatrists said he was stable enough for jail.
THE YORKSHIRE RIPPER'S REIGN OF TERROR: A TIMELINE OF HIS MURDERS
Photograph of Peter Sutcliffe (in 1946) an English serial killer who was dubbed the 'Yorkshire Ripper' by the press
Sutcliffe, who lived in Bradford, West Yorkshire, believed he was on a 'mission from God' to kill prostitutes, although not all his victims were.
His other victims, aged between 16 and 47, included two university students, a civil servant, a bank clerk and a supermarket worker.
Sutcliffe was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper because he mutilated his victims using a screw driver, hammer and knife.
He was also convicted of seven counts of attempted murder in and around Yorkshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester.
Timeline:
Summer 1975: Peter Sutcliffe begins attacking women, two in Keighley and one in Halifax. All three survive and police do not link the attacks.
30 October 1975: Sutcliffe carries out his first fatal attack on Wilma McCann, a 28-year-old prostitute from the Chapeltown district of Leeds.
20 January 1976: He murders Emily Jackson, 42, from Leeds, battering her with a hammer and stabbing her with a screwdriver.
5 February 1977: He kills Irene Richardson, 28, another prostitute from Leeds.
23 April 1977: Sutcliffe strikes for the first time in his home town of Bradford, murdering 32-year-old Patricia Atkinson.
26 June 1977: The case comes to the attention of the national press after Sutcliffe murders Jayne MacDonald, a 16-year-old shop assistant. The murder, and the realisation that a serial killer is on the loose in Yorkshire, shocks the country.
The attacker is dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper by the press, and West Yorkshire Chief Constable Ronald Gregory appoints his most senior detective, Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield, to investigate the murders.
1 October 1977: Sutcliffe chooses Manchester for his next attack - on Jean Jordan, 20. He dumps her body on an allotment and throws her bag, containing a brand new £5 note he gave her, into nearby shrubs.
Police find the bag and trace the serial number on the note back to the payroll of Yorkshire hauliers T and W H Clark, who employ Peter Sutcliffe.
Sutcliffe is interviewed by police but provides an alibi placing him at a party.
21 January to 16 May 1978: Sutcliffe murders three prostitutes - Yvonne Pearson, 21, from Bradford; Helen Rytka, 18, from Huddersfield, and 40-year-old Vera Millward from Manchester.
4 April 1979: Sutcliffe kills Halifax Building Society clerk Josephine Whitaker, 19.
June 1979: A tape is sent to police by a man calling himself Jack the Ripper, who has already sent a series of hand-written letters from Sunderland. Assistant Chief Constable Oldfield mistakenly decides that these are the work of the Ripper. Wearside Jack, as he becomes known, is pinpointed to the Castletown district of Sunderland by voice experts. Detectives are told they can discount suspects who do not have a Wearside accent.
July 1979: Police interview Sutcliffe for the fifth time. Detective Constables Andrew Laptew and Graham Greenwood are suspicious but their report is filed because his voice and handwriting do not fit the letters and tape.
2 September 1979: Sutcliffe murders Barbara Leach, 20, in Bradford.
2 October 1979: A £1million campaign is launched to catch the Yorkshire Ripper.
20 August 1980: The Ripper claims another victim, Marguerite Walls, 47, from Leeds, followed by Jacqueline Hill, 20, a Leeds University student, on November 17.
November 1980: Detective Chief Superintendent James Hobson replaces Oldfield. Hobson downgrades the importance of the Wearside Jack tape and letters.
3 January 1981: Sutcliffe admits he is the Yorkshire Ripper after police arrest him with a prostitute. Police admit the killer does not have a Wearside accent.
22 May 1981: Sutcliffe is jailed for life at the Old Bailey. The judge recommends a minimum sentence of 30 years. He is transferred to Broadmoor secure hospital in Berkshire in 1984.
24 May 1989: Wife of Sutcliffe wins damages.
21 March 2006: John Humble, a former builder, is sentenced to eight years in prison after he admits to being the Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer known as Wearside Jack.
1 June 2006: A report which has been kept secret for nearly 25 years reveals that Sutcliffe probably committed more crimes than the 13 murders and seven attempted murders for which he was convicted.
April 2017: Sutcliffe is questioned by police officers over 17 unsolved cases that bear similarities to his past crimes. He is not being investigated over any murders and it is unknown which of the incidents police think are linked to the serial killer.
May 2017: Sutcliffe is investigated over the murders of two women in Sweden. Detectives are said to have enquired about the murders of a 31-year-old woman found dead in Gothenburg in August 1980, and a 26-year-old woman found dead in Malmo a month later. Both bodies were found on building sites.
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