YORKSHIRE Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has a jail "buddy" who reads his letters to him - after the killer lost his eyesight.

Another lag comes into Sutcliffe's cell twice a week to help him with the piles of correspondence he is sent by friends and supporters.

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Sutcliffe, 70, has told pals he is almost totally blind and cannot read, write or even dial the correct numbers on prison phones when making calls.

He told a friend: "I've got a bloke now who comes in to help me.

"He has agreed to read my letters for me provided I stick with him and don't get anybody else to do it.

"He is a good guy who listens to people’s problems.

"He is great and very patient but he can't get through all the letters as there isn't time.

"There is a massive bundle every time he comes to see me and I can't make him to do them all.

"I am also unable to answer a lot of letters so some people have stopped writing to me.

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"I also have trouble pushing the buttons on the phone when I am making a call and often have to get someone to help me.

"It gets worse by the day.

"It's a terrible situation and I wish it would get sorted."

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The serial killer - moved from Broadmoor Hospital to Category A Frankland Prison, County Durham in August - has cataracts and a condition linked to diabetes that is causing his vision to deteriorate.

Sutcliffe has moaned he is being "neglected" at Frankland and should be given treatment to help him see.

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He is unable to walk across the jail's yard after crashing into a metal pole due to his failing sight.

A source said: "Sutcliffe is really moaning about his plight and not everyone has a lot of sympathy.

"He says some mornings he wakes up and can't see anything at all - and that the rest of the time everything is blurred.

"He says he can see the outline of people but not their faces.

"He keeps saying it is a terrible and he is being neglected.

"He is worried it is making him even more vulnerable than he was.

"And he says that people at Broadmoor did not tell the prison about his eye problems so he keeps having to explain his troubles to different members of staff."

Sutcliffe, who killed 13 women and tried to murder seven more, lost his left eye in a 1997 attack.

He was pictured by The Sun on Sunday in October last year getting treatment at an NHS eye unit aimed at clearing the vision in his right eye.

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The killer - jailed in 1981 before moving to Broadmoor in 1984 - has previously moaned his deteriorating sight is stopping him watching his favourite TV shows including Mrs Brown's Boys.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said there was no official policy of someone reading Sutcliffe his letters.