An MP has called for the Yorkshire Ripper to ‘rot in hell’ and demanded he spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Shipley MP Philip Davies said life should mean life and the mass murderer Peter Sutcliffe should not be allowed to regain the freedom he took away from so many.

He said: “It beggars belief that he has the cheek to ask for early release or a parole date or that anyone involved in the Crown Prosecution Service would even contemplate such a thing.

“This man is a mass murderer who terrified women in Yorkshire over a long period of time and as far as I am concerned he should be rotting in hell.

“I believe life should mean life and especially for someone like the Yorkshire Ripper. We cannot put the rights of murderers ahead of those of victims and decent human beings.”

Mr Davies was today putting down a Commons petition calling for Bradford lorry driver Sutcliffe, now 63, to be kept locked up and demanding the Attorney General steps in and ensures he does not get released.

Sutcliffe, who now calls himself Peter Coonan, is being held in Broadmoor top security psychiatric hospital in Berkshire after being transferred from prison in 1984 suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

Mr Davies’ call comes after Sutcliffe began his bid for freedom on Monday. Previously referred to as “P” to protect his identity, his application to have a tariff set which could lead to parole was started at the High Court in London.

Sutcliffe, who grew up in Bingley, was convicted at the Old Bailey in London in 1981 for the murder of 13 women, and seven counts of attempted murder.

At the centre of his bid to have a tariff set which could lead to parole is a 2006 medical report by his treating doctor at Broadmoor, Dr Kevin Murray, which concludes that Sutcliffe’s convictions for murder were wrong as he should have been tried on the grounds of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

At Monday’s directions hearing, Mr Justice Mitting refused an application for new psychiatric evidence to be used as part of the tariff-setting exercise but he said it would be considered in relation to his conduct post-sentence. Last year Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he did not think Sutcliffe will ever be released.

Mr Brown said: “Any prisoner held under the Mental Health Act will only be downgraded – as is suggested may happen – if the Mental Health Tribunal, which is independent, decides it is safe to do so.

“We are not aware of any tribunal being asked for or arranged in relation to this case. Obviously the tribunal makes these decisions but, in my view, it is very unlikely any change to the sentence given out will happen.”

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