Yorkshire Ripper writes letter to ITV admitting he 'did some bad things'

Peter Sutcliffe speaks out from behind bars to deny involvement in an unsolved 1966 murder

Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe

Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe - known as the Yorkshire Ripper - has written a letter from prison admitting: "I did some bad things."

The 71-year-old, who is serving 20 life sentences for murdering 13 women between 1975 and 1980, spoke out from behind bars to deny his involvement in another killing.

In a letter to ITV News, Sutcliffe denied he murdered Fred Craven, a bookmaker from Bingley, West Yorkshire, who was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in 1966.

It arrived after the station broadcast an investigation into whether he was behind the unsolved killing.

"Yes, I did some bad things, but I just want people to know that I did not attack or murder any males," Sutcliffe wrote, using his adopted name Peter Coonan.

He added: "I can tell you with 100 per cent honesty I did not murder Mr Craven."

The letter was written to Christine Talbot, presenter of ITV's Yorkshire news programme, Calendar.

The station had written to Sutcliffe, who is currently serving his sentence in Durham’s high-security Frankland prison, to put to him allegations that he had murdered Mr Craven and attacked a second man, Leeds taxi driver John Tomey.

Mr Craven's daughter, Irene Vidler, 74, told Calendar that she remained convinced Sutcliffe was behind his death.

"He knew us quite well, he used to come to our house for tea when we were children,” she said. “He placed bets with my dad. My sister Jenny, he asked her to go out with him and she refused because she didn’t like him.

“At the time of the attack, Sutcliffe was working in the Bingley graveyard. I think that given the way he was killed with a hammer on his head, that it was the same way Sutcliffe killed his victims."

The attack, using a tool similar to the one Sutcliffe used to murder most of his victims, left the taxi driver with lifelong brain injuries.

Mr Tomey said his attacker bore a striking resemblance to the man who would go on to become known as one of Britain's worst serial killers.

Shortly after Sutcliffe's arrest, detectives showed Mr Tomey images of possible suspects and he said it took him “less than 20 seconds” to pick him out.

“By the time we'd turned the first page, they started to turn the second page. I said, ‘Go back, it's him’. It took me 20 seconds and I'm a man with brain injuries,” he told Calendar.

Sutcliffe was questioned by West Yorkshire Police over 17 unsolved crimes earlier this year.

In his letter, he claimed none of those crimes were murders and "police are satisfied I was not involved with any of said attacks".

“I was not questioned about Mr Craven or Mr Tomey,” he said.

Sutcliffe added: "With a whole life sentence I’d have nothing to lose and it would not be in my interest to say I didn’t do it if I did, because I’m in jail until my dying day."

Sutcliffe, a former lorry driver, was moved to Frankland last year after spending in more than 30 years in Broadmoor psychiatric hospital.

He had been there since 1984 after he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia after being jailed for life in 1981.

He was transferred back to prison after he was assessed by a mental health tribunal.