THE Yorkshire Ripper has died in hospital, the Prison Service has confirmed.

Peter Sutcliffe had reportedly refused treatment at University Hospital of North Durham after being transferred there from maximum security HMP Frankland, where he was an inmate.

Sutcliffe, 74, had tested positive for Covid-19 and was suffering from underlying health conditions.

He was serving a whole life term for murdering 13 women across Yorkshire and the North West between 1975 and 1980.

He was convicted in 1981 and, after a long spell in Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire, he was transferred to HMP Frankland in 2016 after being deemed stable enough to serve time in prison.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "HMP Frankland prisoner Peter Coonan (born Sutcliffe) died in hospital on November 13. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed."

Sutcliffe had reportedly suffered from a range of conditions before his death including heart trouble, diabetes and obesity.

His five-year reign of terror claimed the lives of 13 women. They were:

- Wilma McCann, 28, from Chapeltown, Leeds, who was killed in October 1975.

- Emily Jackson, 42, a prostitute and mother-of-three from Morley, Leeds. Killed on January 20, 1976.

- Irene Richardson, 28, a mother-of-two from Chapeltown, Leeds. Killed on February 6, 1977.

- Patricia Atkinson, 32, a mother-of-three from Manningham, Bradford. Killed on April 24, 1977.

- Jayne MacDonald, 16, a shop assistant from Leeds. Killed on June 26, 1977.

- Jean Jordan, 21, from Manchester, who died between September 30 and October 11, 1977.

- Yvonne Pearson, 22, from Bradford. Murdered between January 20 and March 26, 1978.

- Helen Rytka, 18, from Huddersfield. Murdered on January 31, 1978.

- Vera Millward, 40, a mother-of-seven from Manchester, who was killed on May 16, 1978.

- Josephine Whitaker, 19, a building society worker from Halifax. Killed on April 4, 1979.

- Barbara Leach, 20, a student who was murdered while walking in Bradford on September 1, 1979.

- Marguerite Walls, 47, a civil servant from Leeds who was murdered on August 20, 1980

- Jacqueline Hill, 20, a student, who was found at Headingley on November 16, 1980.