Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Ripper in hospital
Mystery of killer’s in-and-out trip to ward over the weekend
THE ailing Yorkshire Ripper was taken to hospital in chains at the weekend.
Peter Sutcliffe, serving 20 life terms for murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven, was spotted at Sunderland Royal Hospital late on Sunday.
Patients are believed to have seen him guarded on a ward.
It is thought Sutcliffe, 72, was in for no more than a few hours before being returned to high-security Frankland Prison.
One source told a local newspaper the monster had chains on his wrists and ankles and there were two guards and two police officers with him.
His hair had turned grey and he was bloated.
The one-time lorry driver from Bradford had been registered blind but is thought to have had laser surgery to save his sight last year.
His killing spree finally came to an end when he was arrested in 1981. Sutcliffe, who now uses the name Peter Coonan, is thought to have begun his reign of terror in 1975, battering and mutilating his victims.
After being jailed he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and sent to Broadmoor hospital.
But after a review last year, he was transferred to Frankland in Durham. It has been claimed Sutcliffe wants to return to Broadmoor due to health worries, including chest pains and failing sight.
Many fear Sutcliffe murdered others and West Yorkshire Police last year visited him about further crimes.
Previously, a former senior officer, Keith Hellawell, got him to confess to two attempted murders but fears he has murdered eight more women.
Last night the Ministry of Justice refused to explain Sutcliffe’s hospital visit, saying: “We do not comment on individual prisoners.”