News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Peter Sutcliffe should no longer be in a psychiatric hospital because he is not mentally ill , psychiatrists claim.

The Yorkshire Ripper, 69, has been recommended for a move out of high-security Broadmoor into a specialist prison unit.

Now the final decision rests with Justice Secretary Michael Gove.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Decisions over whether prisoners are to be sent back to prison from secure hospitals are based on clinical assessments made by independent medical staff.

“The High Court ordered in 2009 that Sutcliffe should never be released.

"This was then upheld by the Court of Appeal. Our thoughts are with Sutcliffe’s victims and their families.”

(Image: Mirrorpix)

Doctors do not believe the serial killer can be held at a medium-security hospital because staff will not be able to protect him from other patients.

If moved to jail he is likely to be put on a small unit where he can be protected from other inmates round the clock.

The son of Sutcliffe’s first victim Wilma McCann said: “If that’s what the MoJ decide, I’m fine with that.”

Read more:

Author Richard, 46 – who was just five when his mum was killed aged 28 in 1975 – added: “I can understand why some people want to see him in prison.

"None of this will bring my mum back and where he is locked up does not really change anything.”

Sutcliffe was sentenced to 20 life terms in 1981 for murdering 13 women and trying to kill seven others.

He had regularly used prostitutes in Leeds and Bradford and claimed the voice of God had sent him on a mission to kill.

Below: Some of Peter Sutcliffe's victims

At his trial he pleaded not guilty on grounds of diminished responsibility, but was convicted.

He was moved to Broadmoor from Parkhurst jail in 1984 when he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

The High Court ruled in 2009 that he must spend the rest of his life in custody.

But he is understood not to want to leave the Berkshire hospital, where he has a Freeview TV and DVD player in his room on which he enjoys his favourite shows including The X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and Mrs Brown’s Boys.

(Image: ITV)

Dr Kevin Murray, a psychiatrist who had been in charge of Sutcliffe’s care, said in a 2006 report that he now posed a “low risk of reoffending”.

Two years ago Tony Maden, the former head of the Dangerous Severe Personality Disorder unit at Broadmoor, said patients such as Sutcliffe should be returned to prison.

(Image: ITV)

Read more: '

'

Professor Maden, professor of forensic psychiatry at Imperial College London, said: “We are far too ready to keep mentally disordered prisoners in places like Broadmoor indefinitely, particularly if they are famous.

"I think it’s about celebrity, I can’t think of any other reason why a hospital would want to hang on to somebody when essentially the condition is stable.”

West London Mental Health NHS Trust, which runs Broadmoor, said it could not comment.

Sutcliffe spent nearly all of his years in custody at Broadmoor after being diagnosed as mentally ill, but refused treatment until 1993 when the Mental Health Commission ruled it should be given forcibly.

In 2010 Mr Justice Mitting ruled that “early release provisions” were “not to apply” in his case.

Reports at the weekend claimed Sutcliffe plans to change his name before he dies so no one can desecrate his grave.

Last year he suffered a suspected heart attack and was thought to be close to death.

He also suffers from Type 2 diabetes and obesity after years of gorging on sweets in his cell.