IN the late 70s, Yorkshire was gripped by a terrifying wave of women being attacked and murdered.
Dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper by the press, Peter Sutcliffe's crimes took place over a five year period between 1975 and 1980.
Who is Peter Sutcliffe?
Sutcliffe grew up in Bingley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in a Catholic working class family.
He was born on June 2, 1946, and was said to be a loner.
He left school at 15 - working a series of menial jobs such as a grave digger, factory worker, door-to-door salesman and HGV driver.
In his teens, the killer was said to have an obsession with voyeurism - and he spent his days spying on prostitutes, and the men using their services.
After his arrest, Sutcliffe took on his mother's maiden name - and now likes to be known as Peter Coonan.
He is also known as the Yorkshire Ripper.
Sutcliffe married Sonia Szuma on August 10, 1974.
They lived in Heaton, Bradford, but were unable to have any children.
How long has the Yorkshire Ripper been in jail?
Sutcliffe is currently serving 20 concurrent life sentences, and therefore will never be released from jail.
The 71-year-old was jailed in 1981, after police caught Sutcliffe with a 24-year-old prostitute called Olivia Reivers on January 2.
Sutcliffe was arrested when police realised his car had false number plates, and officers soon noticed that he shared many physical characteristics with the Yorkshire Ripper.
The following day police returned to the scene of Sutcliffe's arrest - where they found a knife, hammer and rope which the killer had dumped the previous day.
After two days of intensive questioning, Sutcliffe finally admitted he was the Yorkshire Ripper.
His wife, Sonia Szurma, was also brought in for questioning by police.
Sutcliffe had previously been questioned over the murders nine times, and West Yorkshire Police was heavily criticised for its handling of the case.
In 2010, the High Court dismissed an appeal by Sutcliffe - and confirmed that he will never be released from custody.
Since August 24, 2016, he has been held in HM Prison Frankland, in Durham.
It emerged on October 2, 2018, that Sutcliffe has been in agony since returning from hospital and fears he may have testicular cancer.
What is he like today?
The Yorkshire Ripper is now a blind man, needing a white stick to stop him stumbling around in prison.
The 71-year-old convict lost the sight in his left eye in 1997 after being attacked with a pen by a fellow inmate.
However, he has now lost the vision in his right eye after an injection supposed to clear the blurriness caused by diabetes went wrong.
He is now totally blind, often uses a wheelchair and requires a "jail buddy" to help him get around the prison.
In September 2018, it was revealed that Sutcliffe had been taken to hospital suffering from ill health.
How many women did the Yorkshire Ripper kill?
Sutcliffe was convicted for the murder of 13 women, and attempting to kill seven others.
His victims were named as Wilma McCann, Emily Jackson, Irene Richardson, Patricia Atkinson, Jayne McDonald, Jean Jordan, Yvonne Pearson, Helen Rytka, Vera Millward, Josephine Whitaker, Barbara Leach and Jacqueline Hill.
The Ripper regularly used prostitutes in Leeds and the nearby areas, and his violence was thought to have been sparked after he was swindled out of money by a prostitute and her pimp.
He told police that God had sent him on a mission to kill prostitutes, and in his trial he pleaded not guilty to murder on grounds of diminished responsibility, after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Could Peter Sutcliffe have killed more women?
Yes he may well have, some claim.
Sutcliffe could have murdered eight more women, a top cop has claimed.
Former police chief Keith Hellawell, who got Sutcliffe to confess to two unsolved attempted murders, said he believes the sick serial killer could be behind more crimes.
The Sun revealed Sutcliffe, 70, has been quizzed in jail by detectives investigating 17 unsolved attacks.
The crimes are said to bear similarities to the 13 gruesome murders and seven attempted murders he was caged for which saw him wield hammers, screwdrivers and knives.
The cases are thought to include that of Tracy Browne who, at just 14, was hit a number of times with a hammer in Silsden, West Yorks, in August 1975.
Tracy believes she survived because her attacker was disturbed by a car’s headlights in a country lane. Sutcliffe was said to have admitted the attack to a cop, but officials ruled a prosecution was not in the public interest.
UNSOLVED CASES
The 17 attacks being probed by cops who quizzed The Ripper were all on women who survived.
Detectives have not revealed which assaults they suspect are linked to the paranoid schizophrenic killer.
But the list is thought to include Yvonne Mysliwiec, a 21- year-old reporter attacked in Ilkley, West Yorks, in 1979.
Another possible victim is Tracy Browne, hit with a hammer at 14 in Silsden, West Yorks.
Shop assistant Rosemary Stead, 18, was attacked in January 1976, while Maureen Hogan suffered head injuries and stab wounds in Bradford that year.
Student Ann Rooney, 22, who was hit with a hammer on the outskirts of Leeds in 1979.
Police are also probing the 1974 case of Gloria Wood, 28 — hit with a claw hammer on a school playing field in Bradford by a man who offered to carry her bags. She later described an attacker similar to The Ripper.
Also among cases linked to Sutcliffe is that of Maureen Lea, known as Mo, who was battered as she walked home from a pub in Leeds in October 1980.
On August 22, it emerged the Ripper had written a chilling letter behind bars saying he "did some very bad things" - but claims he "did not murder any males".
He was asked about the cases of Fred Craven and John Tomey by ITV News Calendar and wrote the letter to presenter Christine Talbot in reply.
In the two-page note, the former lorry driver denied any involvement in the attacks on the two men.
Bookmaker Mr Craven was fatally wounded with a hammer in his office in Bingley town centre in 1966, while Leeds taxi driver Mr Tomey survived a hammer attack by a passenger as they drove across moors near Bingley in 1967.
In his letter, Sutcliffe, from Bradford, said: “I can tell you with 100 per cent honesty I did not murder Mr Craven. And never have I attacked a male.”
In February 2018, West Yorkshire Police decided that he will not be charged with any more offences.
It is thought that due to the length of time which passed and the lack of forensic samples there would not be enough evidence to charge him.
Detective Superintendent Jim Dunkerley, of West Yorkshire Police, confirmed the force had "no intention" to seek a decision from the Crown Prosecution Service to charge him with any further offences.
Has the Yorkshire Ripper been attacked in jail?
Sutcliffe began his sentence at HMP Parkhurst, on the Isle of Wight, on May 22, 1981.
On January 10, 1983, he was attacked by career criminal James Costello - who plunged a broken coffee jar into the left side of Sutcliffe's face twice.
Sutcliffe required 30 stitches and was sent to Broadmoor Hospital, in Berkshire, a year later, in March 1984, under Section 47 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
On February 23 ,1996, Sutcliffe was attacked in his room by convicted robber Paul Wilson - who attempted to strangle him with the cable from a pair of headphones
