The Yorkshire Ripper has died after testing positive for coronavirus.
Peter Sutcliffe, 74, had recently been diagnosed with Covid-19 , but is understood to have refused further treatment when he was taken to hospital, Sky News reports.
The serial killer, who murdered at least 13 women across the north of England in the late 1970s, contracted the virus at HMP Frankland in County Durham.
His prison term had been increased to a whole life sentence in 2010.
Just days ago, a Newcastle woman who fears Sutcliffe murdered her sister begged him to confess to killing before it was too late.
Gloria Booth, 29, was strangled to death and dumped in a park in Ruislip, West London, in June 1971.
Her sister, Elsie Cowen, 69, from Newcastle, told The Mirror : “What has he got to lose now? We believe he killed her but we need him to tell us.
“It’s been a long, long time. I’d like a confession off him. Just to give me and my family some peace of mind.
“She would have been 79 on Sunday and she was only 29. It would be nice to get justice for her.
“The way things are for him at the minute, he’s had a heart attack, he’s got Covid.
"It’s not looking good is it."
A Prison Service spokesman said: “HMP Frankland prisoner Peter Coonan (born Sutcliffe) died in hospital on 13 November. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed.”
Sutcliffe, 74, had tested positive for Covid-19 and was suffering from underlying health conditions.
There was no confirmation of the cause of death which will be investigated by the coroner.
