SERIAL killer Peter Sutcliffe has revealed the chilling moment he told his ex-wife that he was the Yorkshire Ripper.

Sutcliffe, 70, sat former teacher Sonia down in prison after being arrested.

2 Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe has revealed the chilling moment he told his ex-wife that he was the Yorkshire Ripper Credit: Rex Features

2 Sutcliffe sat former teacher Sonia (both pictured ) down in prison after being arrested and confessed Credit: PA:Press Association

He confessed to her himself after he begged police not to tell her anything and tried to justify his crimes, the Sunday Mirror has reported.

Sutcliffe said: "She was deeply shocked when I told her. She couldn’t believe it.

"She knew there must have been something wrong but she had no idea what had happened.

“She was absolutely gobsmacked. It was hard to tell her but rather it come from me than a total stranger."

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Dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper by the press, Peter Sutcliffe‘s crimes took place over a five year period between 1975 and 1980.

The serial killer is often remembered for his attacks on sex workers in Leeds and Bradford, but many of his later victims were not prostitutes.

It has now emerged the Ripper has been quizzed in jail over 17 unsolved cases bearing chilling similarities to his hammer attacks.

In February it was reported Sonia had stopped visiting Sutcliffe after he switched from Broadmoor prison.

One said: “People thought it odd they were still in touch. No one has a lot of sympathy.”

Sonia, 66, divorced the killer in 1994 — 13 years after he got life for murdering 13 women and trying to kill seven more.

She remarried but still saw him in the Berkshire high-security hospital.

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