Yorkshire Ripper sent to hospital

♦peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, has been treated in a general hospital in a ward surrounded by guards, according to reports.

The serial killer was transferred on Sunday night from Frankland prison to Sunderland Royal Hospital, 14 miles away.

Sutcliffe, 72, was spotted by patients on a hospital ward, according to the Yorkshire Post. The hospital declined to comment on the medical condition of an individual patient.

Sutcliffe, who uses the name Peter

Coonan, is registered blind but is believed to have undergone laser eye surgery to save his sight when he was taken to Sunderland Eye Infirmary last year.

It is not clear why he was taken to hospital this time but well-placed sources described the visit as routine.

Sutcliffe, a former lorry driver, was convicted in 1981 of murdering 13 women and the attempted murder of seven more. He is serving 20 concurrent life sentences and has been told he will never be released.