London (CNN) British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe has died in hospital aged 74 after contracting Covid-19, the UK Ministry of Justice said Friday. Nicknamed the "Yorkshire Ripper" by the UK press, Sutcliffe was convicted in 1981 for murdering 13 women and attempting to murder seven others during a reign of terror in northern England between 1975 and 1980. He had been suffering from underlying health conditions before testing positive for Covid-19, but the Prison Service could not confirm the cause of death as that is "rightly a matter for the coroner." A Prison Service spokesperson said: "HMP (Her Majesty's Prison) Frankland prisoner Peter Coonan (born Sutcliffe) died in hospital on 13 November. Sutcliffe spent many years in Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital, before being considered stable enough in 2016 to be transferred to Frankland prison in County Durham, Britain's PA news agency said.

Source: CNN November 13, 2020 09:15 UTC