Netflix's 'The Ripper': Did Peter Sutcliffe have underlying health issues? He refused Covid-19 treatment before death
Netflix's latest documentary 'The Ripper' looks into the life of Peter Sutcliffe, better known as the Yorkshire Ripper, who terrified the streets of North England. Peter Sutcliffe, 74, was serving a whole-life term for killing and mutilating 13 women and attempting to kill at least seven women across Yorkshire and North England between 1975 and 1980. With Netflix revisiting the murderer his crimes, it begs the question of his life in prison.
Life in prison
Sutcliffe remained elusive from the police for a very long time. The largest manhunt in British history could not catch hold of this murderer. Over the course of five years, he killed 13 innocent women and attempted to kill at least seven more. During this period of time, the police interviewed hundreds and thousands of men even Sutcliffe himself who almost always lied his way out of these interrogations.
It was on January 2, 1981, that he was arrested in the company of a prostitute in Sheffield's red-light area. The police discovered that his car had false number plates and he was arrested. Since he matched many of the physical characteristics of the murder, police started interrogating him at the Dewsbury Police Station. After two days of interrogation, he declared he was the Ripper, and over the course of the next day, described his attacks. He told the police that God had told him to murder the women, saying, "The women I killed were filth. Bastard prostitutes who were littering the streets. I was just cleaning up the place a bit."
Why he remained at large for so many years is a combination of luck and police maladministration. Following his conviction and incarceration, he began his sentence at HM Prison Parkhurst on 22 May, 1981. Three years later in March 1984, Sutcliffe was sent to Broadmoor Hospital, under Section 47 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
While in jail, Sutcliffe made several appeals for parole and the minimum term. But was denied. In 2016, he was transferred from Broadmoor to HM Prison Frankland in Durham, County Durham.
Sutcliffe had several inmates attack him during his time in prison, including one in 1997 which rendered his left eye blind and severely damaged his right. In 2007, another inmate attacked him with a meat knife shouting, "You fucking raping, murdering bastard, I'll blind your fucking other one!" Sutcliffe barely escaped this one as the blade missed his right eye and stabbed his cheek.
Death
While he was serving his life sentence, Sutcliffe died recently on November 13, 2020, of Covid-19. The former lorry driver had a number of underlying health problems from obesity and diabetes. But died after he reportedly refused treatment for coronavirus. He was admitted to the hospital two weeks after he had been treated there for a suspected heart attack.
