Sutcliffe's dad criticises comics

The father of Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has criticised a comedy show for joking about his son's killing spree.

John Sutcliffe said it was 'sad' that comedians would try to make money out of the murders that terrorised northern England in the Seventies.

His comments were directed at a sketch contained in the deliberately offensive show Walkout Wednesday, based at The Stand comedy club in Edinburgh.

The skit has comics Steven Dick, Ben Darcy and Ross Craig reworking Monty Python's classic Four Yorkshiremen sketch, but with serial killers Peter Sutcliffe, Fred West and Harold Shipman each trying to outdo each other's boasts.

Posters promoting the show feature a chilling picture of Peter Sutcliffe, who was jailed for life in 1981 for 13 murders and seven attempted murders.

His father said: "It's sad but if they can make a buck or two out of it, they will. It's human nature.

"People can do what they like, it is sad, but I shall never see it, so it won,t worry me," he told the Courier in Dundee, where the show took place this week.

"Even if I didn't like it, what could I do about it?"

Darcy defended the use of the mass murderer's image to promote a comedy show.

He said: "I put Peter Sutcliffe on the poster because he's the most photogenic of all the serial killers who are in the show. We didn't put it on the poster to get loads of attention."

This is not the first time the use of Peter Sutcliffe in a comedy show has caused controversy.

In 1997, Chris Morris prompted a tabloid storm when he created a spoof West End show Peter Sutcliffe: The Musical, for a Brass Eye wind-up.

Published: 20 Jun 2002