Brown: The Ripper will never be released

YORKSHIRE Ripper Peter Sutcliffe will never be freed, Gordon Brown said today.

The Prime Minister said there had been no independent assessment to justify the release of the serial killer.

When pushed on the prospect, Mr Brown said: "I don't believe he will ever be released."

It was claimed earlier today that doctors at Broadmoor high-security mental hospital had deemed Sutcliffe, 62, to be "cured" and no longer a dangerous offender.

Mr Brown was keen to scotch suggestions that Sutcliffe - who murdered 13 women in the Seventies and Eighties - may eventually be freed. He said mental health laws meant the killer could be detained permanently. "Any prisoner held under the Mental Health Act will only be downgraded, as is suggested might happen, if the Mental Health Tribunal, which is independent, is satisfied that it's safe to do so," he said.

"We're not aware of any tribunal being asked for or arranged in relation to this case. Obviously the tribunal would consider these issues but in my view it is very unlikely that anything is going to happen that is different from the sentence that has been imposed upon him."

A former police officer who worked on Yorkshire Ripper cases said he was "staggered" at the suggestion Sutcliffe may one day be allowed out.

Meanwhile Ronnie biggs could be freed from prison before his 80th birthday. Biggs, who took part in the Great Train Robbery in 1963 and has been in jail since 2001 when he returned from Brazil, will appear before a parole board panel in July.

It is expected to release him because his age and ill-health render him unlikely to re-offend.

The former fugitive could be releasedfrom Norwich prison in time for his birthday on 8 August, although relatives fear he is in such poor health that he might not survive that long.

Biggs's release is likely because he has already served the minimum one-third of his 30-year sentence.