Murderers should face the death penalty or be locked up for a whole-life jail sentence, according to one of the district’s MPs.

Philip Davies (Con, Shipley) spoke as his parliamentary colleagues face the prospect of the first debate on the issue in more than a decade under a new system where petitions backed by the public could spark a debate among MPs.

The Conservative MP said: “I am in favour of the death penalty. What I find intolerable is people like the Yorkshire Ripper, who is swanning around Broadmoor having taken the lives of so many people and ruined the lives of his victims’ families.”

Mr Davies also highlighted the case of Stephen Ayre, a convicted murderer and predatory paedophile who raped a ten-year-old boy in Saltaire while he was out of prison on licence.

Ayre, 49, won an appeal against his ‘whole life’ sentence last year, allowing the possibility he may one day be freed. Mr Davies said: “People say we shouldn’t have the death sentence in a civilised society but Stephen Ayre was a convicted murderer who was released from prison and went on to rape a ten-year-old boy in my constituency. That is not something that happens in a civilised society.”

He spoke out ahead of the publication of the first submission to a new e-petitions scheme which could see the most popular appeals discussed in parliament.

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