Ripper was never mad ... just pure evil, say victims’ families
RIPPER TOLD HIS CUSHY LIFE IS OVER
THE decision to end the Yorkshire Ripper’s cushy life in Broadmoor by moving him to a tough jail was welcomed as ‘better late than never’ by victims’ families yesterday.
Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, 70, who has been officially declared sane, should have been moved out of the secure psychiatric hospital years ago and was always evil not mad, relatives of women he attacked insisted.
Neil Jackson, 58, the son of his second victim Emily Jackson, 42, who was killed in 1976, said: ‘I’m glad he is finally losing his cushy lifestyle, but it’s not a moment too soon. He gets better fed in Broadmoor than I do and I work six days a week. Life has been far too easy for him up to now but he is in for a rude awakening.
‘Category A prisons are tough places and there will be no end of people lining up to deliver the ultimate justice that the evil monster deserves.’
The murderer, who butchered 13 women and tried to kill seven others, is expected to be moved within weeks after this week’s ruling by psychiatrists working for the Mental Health Tribunal.
Denise Long, 58, whose mother Maureen suffered devastating injuries when Sutcliffe attacked her with a hammer in 1977, said: ‘He should have been hanged.
‘I don’t believe he was ever ill – he was just pure evil. He knew exactly what he was doing.
‘He should never have been in Broadmoor and I am pleased and think it’s right he suffers in prison.
‘I try not to talk about it because it still upsets me. He left the scars on my mum and she couldn’t get over it. You never forget.
‘He shouldn’t have had the cushy life he has had in hospital all these years. It’s scandalous the taxpayer has been paying for this.’
It costs £300,000 a year to keep him in Broadmoor, with a TV in his room and other privileges, compared with £50,000 for a place in a high-security prison.
Julie Lowry, 56, whose mother Olive Smelt suffered serious head injuries when Sutcliffe attacked her in 1975, said: ‘He’s got what he deserves, being put where he should have been in the first place.’
The killer’s brother Carl Sutcliffe, 50, who used to speak to him on the phone regularly, said: ‘I don’t know why they’ve kept him at Broadmoor so long. He always seemed compos mentis to me on the phone.’
Sutcliffe got 20 life sentences in 1981 and was transferred to Broadmoor three years later after being diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. He will die in jail because he is serving a whole-life tariff.