Man who must not be freed

8:22am Thursday 15th May 2008

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There will surely be very few people who aren't upset and angry at the news that Peter Sutcliffe, the so-called Yorkshire Ripper, has launched a bid to be released from prison using human-rights legislation.

He murdered 13 woman and tried to kill seven more in West Yorkshire and Manchester during his five-year reign of terror. Because of him, women were fearful of venturing out alone and all men were under suspicion. His dark shadow hung over the whole community. Neighbour was fearful of neighbour. The police were obliged to knock on many an innocent door in their hunt for the killer. There was hardly a household in which at least one man wasn't stopped and questioned as he drove about his business.

The fiend responsible for all this was given 20 life sentences in 1981 and three years later was diagnosed with schizophrenia and moved to Broadmoor top-security hospital. Now, though, he has decided that he wants to be declared sane and transferred back into the prison system as a prelude to securing a release date.

His lawyer is seeking a reassessment of his psychiatric condition and reportedly then intends to argue that the Home Office has breached Sutcliffe's human rights because it failed to formally fix a tariff for his release (although he was told that he would serve a minimum of 30 years).

Formal tariff or not, Peter Sutcliffe should never be freed. He caused too much suffering as time and again he brutally breached the most basic human right of all - to life. He should stay behind bars indefinitely.