Yorkshire Ripper ready to seek freedom

Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe could learn within months if he is safe to be released, the High Court said yesterday.

Sutcliffe, a frequent visitor to Oldham during his six-year killing spree which left 13 women dead and seven seriously injured, has asked the court for his tariff, or length of his life sentence.

Sutcliffe (63), who struck twice in Manchester, killing Jean Jordan in 1977 and Vera Millward a year later, wants to know his tariff so he can apply for parole.

Sutcliffe’s victims included prostitutes in West Yorkshire and Manchester, but he also murdered a shop worker, bank clerk and Leeds student.

He was jailed in 1981 at the Old Bailey and given a minimum 30-year term — due to expire next year.

Sutcliffe, who has already started using a new name, Peter Coonan, was a regular visitor to the former Seddon Atkinson truck factory in Heyside, Royton, for nearly three years from 1978 — at the height of his murders.

He drove a 32-ton articulated lorry for Clark Holdings of Bradford delivering axles to the Royton firm — and the transport company provided a vital link for detectives hunting the killer.

His tenth victim was Jean Jordan, of Hulme, and police found a £5 note in her belongings which was traced to Clark’s payroll.

Sutcliffe was interviewed about it, but released, and went on to brutally kill seven more women before he was caught in 1981 as he approached Yorkshire prostitute Olivia Reivers.