Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe ‘obsessed with jailbreak classic The Shawshank Redemption’ letters reveal

YORKSHIRE ripper Peter Sutcliffe was obsessed with The Shawshank Redemption, unearthed letters revealed.

The serial killer is said to have read Stephen King’s jailbreak classic more than 50 times and dreamed of escaping like his hero.

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And in a chilling twist of fate, the book came out in 1982, just a year after Sutcliffe was sentenced to life in prison for murdering at least 13 women.

His heinous crimes throughout the 1970s and 80s made him one of Britain’s most notorious murderers.

The hit film version, starring Tim Robbins as genius incarcerated banker Andy and Morgan Freeman as his friend Red, was released in 1994.

In newly emerged letters, serial killer Sutcliffe, who was being held at Broadmoor Hospital, Berks, and Franklin Prison, Co Durham, wrote to a pen pal: “My favorite book is The Shawshank Redemption.”

In 1992, using a Ronnie Kray hacksaw blade, Sutcliffe attempted to escape from Broadmoor by attempting to cut through the metal bars on his cell window.

The same letter revealed the Ripper’s favorite song was the doo-wop group The Impalas’ Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home), which held “great meaning” for him and his estranged wife Sonia.

Sutcliffe also wrote of her married life: “Sonia used to cook some lovely Czech meals at home, fantastic.”

The full messages will be found in The Ripper Letters, a book edited by Rory Everett.

Some of the chilling notes were very recent, having been sent to Covid at the age of 74 weeks before Sutcliffe died in 2020.

Mr. Everett said, “The book is the first of its kind because it’s drawn word for word from the Ripper’s brain.”

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