One of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, “Yorkshire Ripper” Peter Sutcliffe, died on Friday aged 74, the government said.

Sutcliffe was convicted in 1981 of murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others in northern England after a reign of terror that is still seared on the public memory.

He received 20 life sentences and was ordered to serve at least 30 years in prison, but in 2010 a High Court judge ruled that he was never to be released.

“HMP Frankland prisoner Peter Coonan (born Sutcliffe) died in hospital on November 13, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed,” the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.

Truck driver Sutcliffe, who was assessed to have had paranoid schizophrenia at the time he committed his crimes, had spent time after his sentence at a high-security psychiatric facility.

But he was transferred to HMP Frankland, near Durham, northeast England, after his mental state was deemed stable enough.

He was attacked in jail, losing sight in his left eye, and had underlying health conditions including heart trouble and diabetes linked to his ballooning size.

He had tested positive for Covid-19 but according to British media reports this week had refused treatment. No immediate cause of death was given. (AFP)