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Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has been cremated in a secret ceremony two weeks after his death from coronavirus at age 74.
The killer’s funeral is believed to have been organized by his ex-wife Sonia Woodward, 70, who may have also paid for the ceremony.
But family and friends were banned, with a Zoom link scheduled to the event canceled at the last minute, according to The Sun.
A source who knew Sutcliffe told the newspaper: ‘Her family believes it was Sonia’s doing, and she didn’t want it to appear on Zoom or for people to come so she could remain a secret and none of it would be on camera.
Sutcliffe, diabetic, overweight and with heart problems, died only on Friday, November 13, after refusing treatment for the coronavirus.
Peter Sutcliffe’s funeral (pictured from 2015) is believed to have been arranged by his ex-wife Sonia Woodward, 70, who may also have paid for the ceremony.
The daughter of Polish and Ukrainian refugees, Sonia Szurma (pictured with her ex-husband) met Sutcliffe at a nightclub pub at the Royal Standard in Bradford’s red light district in 1966. A year later they got engaged. They were married on August 10, 1974
His coffin was surrounded by flowers and music was played during the brief ceremony, the newspaper reported. It is understood that the readings of the relatives have been read.
The son of Sutcliffe’s second victim, Emily, 42, who was killed in 1976, said he hoped the killer would “burn in hell.” Builder Neil Jackson, 62, of Leeds told the Sun: ‘He should have been hanging from a rope 40-odd years ago when he got caught.
“And I hope the public is not paying it, because if we are their ashes they should just be sent by the tip.”
It is not known who covered the cost, although it was previously reported that a friend of the funeral director, David Holmes, offered to organize his funeral free of charge.
Sutcliffe, Britain’s most notorious serial killer, murdered 13 women and attempted to kill seven more between 1975 and 1980. In the photo, 12 of his victims
Sutcliffe was said to have accepted the offer and wanted to be buried near his hometown in Bingley, West Yorkshire. But Holmes is not believed to have arranged the funeral and Sutcliffe was cremated to prevent the destruction of his grave.
According to a Prison Service directive, if there is no family plan, prisons must offer to pay a “reasonable” contribution. The funeral could have cost up to £ 3,000.
But Ms Woodward, who described herself as Sutcliffe’s ‘other stakeholder’ until 2015, has the funds to pay it off. They divorced in 1994 and his ex-wife remarried three years later.
Andrew Bridgen, Conservative MP for North-West Leicestershire, said: ‘If the state has to pay for his funeral, then it should try to recoup that cost from Sutcliffe’s estate plus any administrative expenses.
Sonia did not visit Sutcliffe at Frankland Prison, County Durham, after she moved there in 2016 after a 32-year stint at Broadmoor High Security Hospital in Berkshire, but the couple still spoke on the phone and exchanged letters.
“The funeral costs will hurt, but they are nothing compared to what it has cost the state to incarcerate him for 40 years.”
Sutcliffe filed for bankruptcy in 1984 and it was reported that Sonia bought half her stake in the house amid a legal dispute to prevent the house from being sold under a court order.
Sutcliffe, Britain’s most notorious serial killer, murdered 13 women and attempted to kill seven more between 1975 and 1980.
Shortly before Sutcliffe died at North Durham University Hospital, his 61-year-old brother Carl told the Mail that he had ‘washed his hands’ on his brother and would not be attending any ceremonies.
He claimed that Sonia was his closest legal relative, but his brother Michael, 70, commented: ‘It has nothing to do with her (Sonia). She is no longer his wife, is she?
The daughter of Ukrainian and Polish refugees, Sonia Szurma met Sutcliffe at a Royal Standard pub and nightclub in Bradford’s red light district in 1966. A year later they got engaged. They were married on August 10, 1974.
Less than a year after that, the Sutcliffe truck driver took a hammer and began attacking women, two in Keighley and one in Halifax. A year later, he murdered the first of his 13 victims: Wilma McCann, a 28-year-old mother of four.
Portrait of British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, also known as ‘The Yorkshire Ripper’, on his wedding day, 10 August 1974
Michael, who said he had barely spoken to Sonia since Sutcliffe’s arrest, was the only one of the killer’s five brothers to remain in regular contact with him, speaking weekly on the phone.
Speaking a few hours before Sutcliffe’s death, he described the fearsome serial killer as a pathetic and broken man.
“He is almost totally blind from type 2 diabetes and has been stabbed in the eye (by another inmate),” he said.
‘He has to be led through the prison by the hand and all his letters read to him. He is so sick that he has to carry a colostomy bag.
Five days before the Ripper’s death, gasping for air as he was taken to the hospital, Sutcliffe, obese and diabetic, said, “I’m not going to make it, I’m not coming back.”
It is not known what will happen to his ashes.
In 2019, the ashes of Angus Sinclair, one of Scotland’s most notorious killers, were scattered at sea after a local authority took over when no arrangements were made for his burial.
