Peter Sutcliffe: Letter from evil killer shows he may have shown remorse for his crimes while in Broadmoor

Peter Sutcliffe may have shown some remorse for his evil crimes while locked up at Broadmoor, a new letter has revealed.
By Hannah Van De Peer
Published 29th Aug 2023, 08:46 GMT
Updated 29th Aug 2023, 12:43 GMT

Sutcliffe - convicted of murdering 13 women and trying to kill seven others - was known to be unrepentant over his heinous actions. But now a letter, written from inside Broadmoor hospital in 1990, could shed a different light on the serial killer's state of mind.

The letter - bought decades later - reads: "I am not the type of person who writes to voyeurs or folk who think I wanted to do what I did! Because I didn't! My life was an absolute hell on Earth because of it."

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Sutcliffe killed his first victim in 1975 and went on to carry out a spree of sexually-motivated attacks over the next five years. He was arrested and charged in early 1981 and, after a two-week trial, was found guilty on 13 counts of murder. He had already pleaded guilty to seven counts of attempted murder.

A letter which had been written by Peter Sutcliffe while in Broadmoor was sold after a dealer found it in a drawer.A letter which had been written by Peter Sutcliffe while in Broadmoor was sold after a dealer found it in a drawer.
A letter which had been written by Peter Sutcliffe while in Broadmoor was sold after a dealer found it in a drawer.

Sutcliffe was sentenced to 20 concurrent life sentences and was transferred to Broadmoor in March 1984.

This new letter is dated April 4, 1990, and the return address is given as 'P. Sutcliffe, Crowthorne Hospital'. Broadmoor is in Crowthorne, a Berkshire village.

It goes on to read: “A torment beyond belief and it was a darned relief when it was all over, I can assure you of that. Well, no more to be said. I can't even think about it and I don't. Thank god I now know the truth, and I am not living in a fantasy world, that's all I can say.' It is signed, 'yours sincerely, Peter'."

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Ben Graves, 32, says he got the letter from an antiques dealer last month. The lot also included a second, typed letter.

That reads: “Sorry mate, I can't oblige because a pathetic creep… has made it impossible for me to put any trust in anyone I don't know. I have his lying letters and family photographs still to prove what a two-faced lying troglodyte he is.”

Ben, a control room operator from Cumbria, said: "The dealer had this letter tucked away in a drawer and he sold it to me. Nothing like it has ever been put online before - it struck me that he seems to regret what he's done with the crimes."

Sutcliffe died from ill health in prison in 2020, aged 74. ITV announced a seven-part series about the hunt for Sutcliffe starring Toby Jones earlier this month.