The family of a man who died after being wrongly jailed for murdering a Bradford woman three decades ago are demanding justice after growing speculation his supposed victim was killed by the Yorkshire Ripper.

Anthony Steel spent 20 years in jail for murdering 20-year-old Carol Wilkinson – during Bradford-born Peter Sutcliffe’s reign of terror – but his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2003.

Mr Steel’s relatives have long believed Miss Wilkinson was a Ripper victim and have made fresh calls for detectives to re-open the investigation into the 30-year-old case following his death last year aged 52.

Anthony Steel’s brother-in-law Don Emmott said: “We want to see Peter Sutcliffe interviewed for her murder and to get justice for us and for the family of Carol Wilkinson.

“Our family has been kicked from pillar to post and Anthony’s name has still not been fully cleared. Hopefully West Yorkshire police will listen to us and re-open the case.”

Their latest request follows the broadcast of a TV documentary tonight about Mr Steel’s conviction and later acquittal.

Crime writer David Yallop described Mr Steel’s ordeal as “one of the saddest and most significant miscarriages of justice since World War Two”.

Mr Yallop, who wrote the Sutcliffe biography Deliver Us From Evil, said there is a “strong probability” that Sutcliffe killed Carol Wilkinson, saying: “It cries out to be investigated.”

He said the modus operandi of the murder bore striking resemblances to that of known Sutcliffe victim Yvonne Pearson, who was battered to death with a stone the year after Miss Wilkinson.

She had been bludgeoned with a coping stone as she walked to work near Bradford’s Ravenscliffe Estate in October, 1977.

Mr Emmott said there is evidence Sutcliffe could have easily been in the right place at the right time to kill Carol Wilkinson.

Speaking to the T&A after the programme, Mr Emmott said: “The programme echoed my thoughts exactly. You need local knowledge to do this type of investigation.

“The person who killed her knew Bradford. I know the areas, I used to drink in the same pubs Peter Sutcliffe drank in.

“I’ve done my research, I’ve gone through old copies of the T&A murder by murder and found some very disturbing similarities between police statements on Yvonne Pearson and Carol Wilkinson’s murders.

“The police said Carol Wilkinson’s murder wasn’t done in the usual Ripper style but I believe he wanted to create some confusion.

“I want Peter Sutcliffe questioned by an independent authority. The original investigation was just a charade.”

Miss Wilkinson made history as the first murder victim to have her life support machine turned off by doctors and Anthony Steel was later jailed for her murder.

After Mr Steel’s conviction was quashed he won an apology and £100,000 compensation from West Yorkshire Police.

In a statement to the BBC, a West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “As a force we regret the injustice of the conviction of Anthony Steel and an expression of that regret was made to Mr Steel by the then Chief Constable in 2003.

“A review was called of the murder of Carol Wilkinson at the time as part of a continual review process and did not establish any new suspects.

“West Yorkshire Police continues to review evidence from the case and from all other unidentified murders in light of the developments in forensic science and new evidence becoming available.”