Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe's excruciating last days in prison before death

02 October 2023 , 17:00

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Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe's excruciating last days in prison before death

Suffering from schizophrenia and angina and spending his final days battling diarrhoea and intense vomiting, it was an uncomfortable ending for the Covid-ridden Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe.

Sutcliffe, who murdered at least 13 women and attempted to murder seven more, died in hospital almost three years ago in severe pain.

Tonight, the second part of ITV's new drama The Long Shadow retells the horrors he inflicted, with particular focus on his victims and their families. Featuring the likes of Toby Jones, David Morrissey, Katherine Kelly, Daniel Mays and Jill Halfpenny, viewers tonight will get to see next instalment of the haunting seven-parter.

Peter Sutcliffe suffered an agonising final few days before his death (Collect Unknown)

It it was an unbearable ending for Sutcliffe as he battled a 'blocked' heart. He also had diabetes, and the maniac was left nearly blind following an attack by fellow inmate years before his death. The Prisons & Probation Ombudsman, which investigates deaths in prisons, went into detail about the killer's dying days. Already suffering from diabetes, angina and paranoid schizophrenia, Sutcliffe was taken from a maximum security prison near Durham to a hospital on October 28, 2020, to have a pacemaker fitted.

The former lorry driver, who was locked up for a whole life term in 1981, may have contracted coronavirus in hospital, Sue McAllister wrote in the report. On November 6 2020 – a day after testing positive for the disease – the killer was observed by a prison nurse to be "coughing continuously and was unable to get out of bed".

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

His crimes are being retold on The Long Shadow (ITV)

Later that day Sutcliffe, who latterly used the name Peter Coonan, began vomiting. Two days later a prison nurse found Sutcliffe, 74, had been suffering diarrhoea and vomiting. His oxygen saturation level was found to be very low and he was taken to hospital. Suffering chest pain and coughing the following day, Sutcliffe, who had earlier declined to shield on a different prison wing, was taken back to hospital and again on November 10.

Sutcliffe's condition deteriorated and on November 12 his restraints were removed for "decency". The killer, who was kept in chains until shortly before his death, died just after 1am on November 13. Ms McAllister wrote: "The clinical reviewer concluded that the care Mr Coonan received at Frankland was equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community.

Sutcliffe's murder spree sparked one of the biggest manhunts in British history (SWNS.com)

"He found that healthcare staff acted responsively and appropriately when Mr Coonan became unwell in late October and early November." Ms McAllister, however, expressed concern that, on one trip to hospital, it took nearly eight hours to obtain a secure vehicle to return Sutcliffe to HMP Frankland.

She also wrote: "We are also concerned that when hospital doctors were giving Mr Coonan end of life care, the decision to remove Mr Coonan’s restraints took too long and that escorting officers did not remove the restraints promptly after an authorising manager gave verbal permission to do so."

Ms McAllister added: "Although most of the prison’s liaison with Mr Coonan’s next of kin was of a good standard, we are disappointed that he could not talk directly with his next of kin when he was dying and that prison staff had to act as messengers for their personal messages."

Tonight, The Long Shadow airs its latest episode. The title was a purposeful shift away from their original featuring Sutcliffe's grim moniker; The Yorkshire Ripper. "We started by calling it 'The Yorkshire Ripper' when we announced it," writer George Kay explains. "But we learned over time that the name people use to describe Peter Sutcliffe was disrespectful in many ways.

"It's especially painful for the victims' families, because it creates a sort of dark brand around a man who doesn't deserve that sort of attention. This is a story we've been working on for four years. And in that time, we've learnt lots of things and met lots of people in all parts of this story. I think we've been really good about being flexible and trying to learn and change and understand their stories and their opinions.

"The Yorkshire Ripper was a working title, but The Long Shadow is more in tune with the story, we're trying to tell the broader story that we're trying to tell not just about the crimes and the investigation, which are really important, but the the effects of the crimes and the effects that continue long after Peter Sutcliffe himself was arrested."

*The Long Shadow continues on Monday at 9pm on ITV

Sam Elliott-Gibbs