A MAJOR new TV documentary links more than 20 unsolved murders and attempted murders which match the methods used by the 'Yorkshire Ripper'.

'Yorkshire Ripper: The Secret Murders', to be shown over two nights on ITV starting tonight, will look at the potential missed chances to capture Bradford serial killer Peter Sutcliffe through cases between 1968 and 1981.

The documentary claims Sutcliffe's killing spree may have started at least six years before his first acknowledged victim, Mary Judge in Leeds in 1968.

The programmes look at investigators and those who have examined Sutcliffe's crimes and have claimed that his methods - including striking his victims on the back of the head and using rope or twine - have been used in other violent crimes.

The cases explored in the two-part documentary include Carol Wilkinson, a bakery worker murdered in Bradford in October 1977. Anthony Steel spent 20 years in jail for murdering the 20-year-old – during Sutcliffe’s reign of terror – but his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2003.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Peter Sutcliffe, otherwise known as the 'Yorkshire Ripper' Peter Sutcliffe, otherwise known as the 'Yorkshire Ripper'

Mr Steel’s relatives have long believed Miss Wilkinson was a Ripper victim and made fresh calls for detectives to re-open the investigation into the case following his death in 2007 aged 52.

Sutcliffe's killing spree across Yorkshire and Manchester ran from 1975 to 1980. He confessed to the murders the following year.

He died aged 74 from Covid-19 in November 2020 after falling ill on October 27.

He had been serving a life sentence at HMP Frankland in Durham for the murders of 13 women in the 1970s, but was later transferred to the University Hospital of North Durham, where he died.

Before he was caught in 1980, his killing spree terrified much of northern England.

In this new ITV programme, evidence in several cases between 1968 and 1981 is explored, including interviews with victims’ relatives, experts, the series places these events within the timeline of Sutcliffe’s confirmed crimes and asks why he had never been considered a suspect.

These include victims all over England including in Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and London.

Les Jones, who played Les Battersby in Coronation Street, is among those interviewed for the documentary after he discovered the body of one of Sutcliffe's victims.

The programmes also chronicles key periods during the police investigation including the Wearside Jack tape recordings and the 'Reclaim The Night' movement while Sutcliffe was at large.

Yorkshire Ripper: The Secret Murders will be broadcast on ITV on Wednesday, February 23 and Thursday, February 24, both at 9pm.