THE brother of Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe said the killer is resigned to never leaving the secure hospital where he is held.

A national Sunday newspaper claimed the 68-year-old mass murderer may be moved from Broadmoor, where he has been detained for the majority of his sentence, to a lower security establishment.

The paper claimed Sutcliffe could be switched to Thornford Park, a modern-built medium to low security unit in Berkshire, where patients go out on trips.

But Mick Sutcliffe said he had spoken to his elder brother this week and he had no knowledge of any proposed move.

"He told me he is not going anywhere, he is stopping where he is," Mick Sutcliffe exclusively told the Telegraph & Argus.

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"I don't think they will ever move him. It has been mentioned and discussed in the past. Years ago there was talk of him being moved to Wakefield, where it would be easier for us to visit him, but nothing came of it. There have been no new discussions about it.

"They want to keep him where he is and Peter is resigned to staying there. I don't think there's any prospect of him being moved."

Mick Sutcliffe, of Bingley, also maintained his brother was in good health.

"He's got diabetes but apart from that there's nothing wrong with him. People say he had a heart attack, but there's nothing wrong with his heart. He's fit as a fiddle," he said.

"People are always saying he's having a cushy time of it. But he is treated the same as everybody else at Broadmoor."

Thornford Park is set in woodland less than 30 miles from Broadmoor and is run by The Priory Group, whose clients have included celebrities such as footballer Paul Gascoigne.

Sutcliffe, of Heaton, Bradford, is detained indefinitely for the murders of 13 women and trying to murder seven others during a reign of terror across the north.

The national newspaper claimed Sutcliffe had an assessment at the end of last month and a report was being compiled to be heard next month which will decide whether or not he goes to Thornford Park. It also reported Sutcliffe cannot wait to get away from Broadmoor.

Mick Sutcliffe said: "I know he wants to move but he's done alright at Broadmoor. Moving him somewhere else in Berkshire wouldn't make any difference for us, it's still miles away."

In February this year he dismissed other claims in a national newspaper his brother was making his own funeral plans because he feared he did not have much longer to live.

A spokesman for Broadmoor Hospital, run by the West London Mental Health NHS Trust, said he could not comment because of patient confidentiality.

The Priory Group also declined to comment.