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Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe 'fit to be freed from Broadmoor'

By John Hirst

Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe 'fit to be freed from Broadmoor'

Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe is fit to be freed from Broadmoor, according to doctors at the high security hospital.

The decision is a major step towards 62-year-old Sutcliffe's aim of being freed altogether. He was jailed for life in 1981 after murdering 13 women and trying to kill seven others over a five-year period in the 1970s.

If the Ministry of Justice agrees with the doctors' verdict, he will be sent to a medium-secure unit where he could be allowed out on short release for rehabilitation. A source close to Mr Sutcliffe told The Sun he is regarded as a "model patient" at Broadmoor, and medics are more concerned about the risk the public poses to him rather than the risk he poses to the public.

Comment: The mind boggles. How he escaped being on the never to be released list is beyond me. There are quite a few on that list who have done far less serious crimes. I suspect that if he is released the Sun will hunt him down to get a front page exclusive, continuing the story on pages 2,3,4,5,6 and 7.

Convicted murderer on run after fleeing mental hospital

Convicted murderer Paul Caesar is on the run after fleeing a secure mental hospital with a record of high-profile escapes, police have warned.

The 37-year-old was last seen at Springfield Hospital in Tooting, south London, at 11am on Tuesday.

He is under a hospital order after being convicted for murder in 1996, the Metropolitan Police said.

Police described Caesar as "dangerous" and urged members of the public not to approach him, but instead to call 999 immediately.

Officers have now launched a search operation to track him down.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on February 18, 2009 (boomark / email).