Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has eye operation on the NHS in a bid to save his rapidly failing sight
Critics have blasted the operation on the 70-year-old killer which saw doctors inject steroids into the eye
YORKSHIRE Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has had NHS treatment inside jail aimed at saving his failing eyesight.
Medics visited serial killer Sutcliffe, 70, in jail to carry out an op to remove a lump in his right eye that has left him virtually blind.
The move means Sutcliffe - pictured by The Sun on Sunday visiting an NHS eye unit last October - has avoided having to leave prison to visit another hospital.
Instead doctors travelled to HMP Frankland, Country Durham to perform surgery on the monster's right eye.
Sutcliffe - already blind in his left eye after a 1997 attack - was desperate for the treatment after moaning to pals he was unable to watch TV or read his letters.
Medics were spirited into Category A Frankland on Thursday, where they gave Sutcliffe a steroid injection to clear the lump.
The killer is also suffering from cataracts and may need further treatment for that condition.
There was outrage when Sutcliffe was taken from Broadmoor Hospital last year for treatment at the specialist eye unit of Frimley Park Hospital, Surrey.
After we pictured the killer walking around grounds without handcuffs and in casual clothes, he was later taken for further eye surgery when it was dark.
But Sutcliffe - who killed 13 women and tried to murder seven more - has not had treatment since he was returned to jail in August.
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The killer now has a jail "buddy" who visits him in his cell at Frankland to read his letters and emails from family and friends.
His eye problems stem from a condition linked to his diabetes.
Before his op, Sutcliffe told a pal: "I am looking forward to having it done, although it is an injection through the eye.
"They need to break up the lump that is formed there pretty quickly as I cannot see at all.
"It is horrible because I can feel the lump pressing on the back of my eye.
"I need the cataracts doing as well but I don't think they'll do that at the same time.
"I can only vaguely see shapes at the moment and can only see people's faces when they are right up next to me.
"I can't watch the telly, I just listen to it and I can't write my letters.
"They have been dragging their feet getting me treatment because they know how I am fixed.
"I have not really been able to walk around the prison as I am so vulnerable and also knock into things.
"I just hope the operation is a success."
Sutcliffe was moved back to jail after experts decided his paranoid schizophrenia could be treated there. He is already an "enhanced" inmate in jail, meaning he gets extra privileges and free time.
Yesterday Neil Jackson – whose mother Emily was Sutcliffe’s second victim – said: “This is disgusting and he should not be getting special treatment.
“Let him lose his eyesight and let’s stop treating him like a VIP.
“If he needs treatment, let him pay for it himself rather than get it on the NHS – he’s got plenty of money.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "We don't comment on individual prisoners."
