Yorkshire Ripper Dies After Refusing COVID Treatment

Few people will be mourning one of COVID-19's latest victims in Britain. Peter Sutcliffe, one of the country's most notorious serial killers, has died after refusing treatment for the virus, the BBC reports. He also had underlying health conditions including obesity and diabetes. The 74-year-old "Yorkshire Ripper" had been serving 20 life sentences for the murders of 13 women and the attempted murders of seven more in northern England between 1975 and 1980. He was moved to the Frankland prison in County Durham in 2016 after decades in the Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital, reports CNN.

Sutcliffe, who worked as a truck driver, killed his victims with knives, hammers, and screwdrivers. Police spent more than 2 million hours on the case, but he remained at large for years because of a mishandled investigation in which police missed numerous clues and were misled by a hoax tape that they believed was from the killer, the Guardian reports. Sutcliffe was questioned and released nine times during the investigation. During his trial, he claimed he was on a mission from God to kill prostitutes, though not all of his victims, who ranged in age from 16 to 42, were sex workers. Former police officer Bob Bridgestock, who worked on the case, tells the BBC that he "won't shed any tears" for the killer. (More United Kingdom stories.)