A sick website pretending to be the work of Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has sparked outrage and calls for it to be removed from the internet.

The site has been set up on the hugely-popular US-based MySpace forum.

It purports to be that of Peter William Sutcliffe and gloats over the acts of violence committed by the Bradford lorry driver, who murdered 13 women between 1975 and 1980.

The killing spree sparked one of the biggest police manhunts in the country's history.

Sutcliffe, of Heaton, a former grave-digger, preyed on lone females viciously attacking them with a hammer and knife.

He was finally convicted of the crimes in 1981 and sentenced to life imprisonment. One of Sutcliffe's first victims was Olive Smelt, then 46, of Halifax. She was seriously injured when he smashed a hammer into her head but she survived the attack as Sutcliffe was disturbed by a passer-by.

Mrs Smelt, now 78, said she was horrified to learn that the site had been created.

She said: "It is disgusting. For someone to actually pretend to be that man. It's absolutely terrible, you wouldn't think anyone would be sick enough to do that.

"This site should be removed immediately. I just can't believe it, they should be locked up and I think any of his other victims would feel the same."

Sutcliffe's younger brother, Mick Sutcliffe, also called for the website to be removed and the person responsible for it to be dealt with by the authorities.

Mr Sutcliffe described the site as "sad and sick."

He said: "It is offensive to myself and our family and, more importantly, it is offensive to Peter's victims and their families. I would like to see this removed from the website and the police informed so investigations can take place to find out who has done this.

"Whoever has set up this site must be mentally ill. They can't be normal. It must be a very sick person. They need to be traced and put in front of a psychiatrist to find out what is wrong with them.

"It needs checking out because anyone who can do something as sick as this could be capable of something even worse."

Shipley Conservative MP Philip Davies said: "I have no idea what motivates people to do this and whoever has done this is, as far as I can see, clearly sick beyond belief.

"They have not given any thought to how the families of the victims would feel about this sort of thing. It is outrageous."

No-one at myspace, which is run by Fox Interactive Media and has its headquarters in Berkeley, California, could be contacted for a comment.

Sutcliffe's reign of terror came to an end on January 2, 1981, when he was arrested with a prostitute in Sheffield when police found his car had been fitted with false registration plates. Officers later found a knife, rope and a hammer where he had tried to hide them nearby.

He pleaded not guilty to murder claiming diminished responsibility but after a two week trial the following May, he was found guilty on 13 counts of murder and given life imprisonment.

Sutcliffe has spent years at Broadmoor top security hospital. He was blinded in one eye when he was attacked by another inmate, one of several assaults he has suffered.