Continuous coughing and suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe's final days have been revealed in a prison report.
Sutcliffe, who murdered at least 13 women and attempted to murder seven more, died in hospital from Covid-19 on November 13, 2020.
A report compiled by the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman (PPO), which investigates deaths in prisons, goes into detail about the serial killer's dying days, as reported by Yorkshire Live.
Already suffering from diabetes, angina and paranoid schizophrenia, Sutcliffe was taken from a maximum security prison near Durham to hospital on October 28, 2020, to have a pacemaker fitted.
The former lorry driver, who was locked up for a whole life term in 1981, may have contracted coronavirus in hospital, Sue McAllister wrote in the report.
On November 6 – a day after testing positive for coronavirus – Sutcliffe was observed by a prison nurse to be "coughing continuously and was unable to get out of bed".
Later that day Sutcliffe, who latterly used the name Peter Coonan, began vomiting.
Two days later a prison nurse found Sutcliffe, 74, had been suffering diarrhoea and vomiting. His oxygen saturation level was found to be very low and he was taken to hospital.
Suffering chest pain and coughing the following day, Sutcliffe, who had earlier declined to shield on a different prison wing, was taken back to hospital and again on November 10.
Sutcliffe's condition deteriorated and on November 12 his restraints were removed for "decency".
The killer, who was kept in chains until shortly before his death, died just after 1am on November 13.
Ms McAllister wrote: "The clinical reviewer concluded that the care Mr Coonan received at Frankland was equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community.
"He found that healthcare staff acted responsively and appropriately when Mr Coonan became unwell in late October and early November."
Ms McAllister, however, expressed concern that on one trip hospital it took nearly eight hours to obtain a secure vehicle to return Sutcliffe to HMP Frankland.
She also wrote: "We are also concerned that when hospital doctors were giving Mr Coonan end of life care, the decision to remove Mr Coonan’s restraints took too long and that escorting officers did not remove the restraints promptly after an authorising manager gave verbal permission to do so."
Ms McAllister added: "Although most of the prison’s liaison with Mr Coonan’s next of kin was of a good standard, we are disappointed that he could not talk directly with his next of kin when he was dying and that prison staff had to act as messengers for their personal messages."
Sutcliffe's murdered women from Bradford, Leeds, other parts of Yorkshire and Manchester between 1969 and 1980. His murder spree sparked one of the biggest and most expensive manhunts in British history.
The investigation by West Yorkshire Police was handled poorly. Sutcliffe was interviewed nine times by police but continued to avoid arrest and carry out his murderous attacks.
Officers were thrown off the scent by hoaxer "Wearside Jack" who was, 26 years later, revealed to be an alcoholic from Sunderland called John Humble.
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