New DNA evidence brought the breakthrough in the hunt for the infamous Ripper hoaxer Wearside Jack.

Cold case detectives swooped on Wearside and arrested a man after unearthing new evidence.

A 49-year-old Sunderland man was being quizzed yesterday, accused of sending the tape and letters 27 years ago which fooled police into believing the Yorkshire Ripper was from Castletown, Sunderland.

It is understood the arrest came after police recovered the infamous hoax letters that were believed to be lost and unearthed new DNA evidence.

The hoax letters and tapes, from a man with a strong Sunderland accent who claimed to have carried out the Ripper murders, taunted officers and diverted vital resources from the investigation - as Peter Sutcliffe continued to kill three more times.

The breakthrough followed a cold case review by officers in West Yorkshire's newly-formed Homicide and Enquiry Team.

Most of the letters originally sent to the murder squad were destroyed years ago by chemical testing.

But it is thought that other material - either chemicals or paper packaging - has remained intact and has been tested using new DNA checks. The Yorkshire Ripper was jailed for life in 1981 for the murder of 13 women. But police were so convinced that Wearside Jack was the Ripper they switched their inquiries to Sunderland for 18 months.

During that time, Sutcliffe claimed three more victims before finally being arrested - and the families of those victims have repeatedly called for a full investigation into the tapes, believing their daughters died because of Wearside Jack.

The man arrested is understood to be a divorcee, who lives with his brother.

Sunderland University lecturer Patrick Lavelle, 45, an author who has written books on Wearside Jack said he believed the arrest followed a forensic breakthrough.

He said: "I have been speaking with West Yorkshire Police over the last few years, months and indeed have had contact with them in the last few days."

Just this summer the hunt for the hoaxer was dealt a blow when West Yorkshire Police revealed they had lost the letters.

The Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, from Bradford, now 59, was jailed for life in 1981 for the murders of 13 women that rocked the country. In the late 1970s and 1980 his murders brought terror across the north of England. The inquiry was the biggest manhunt Britain had ever seen, and there was huge pressure on the West Yorkshire Police murder team, headed by Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield, to find the Ripper. His killing spree began in the early hours of October 30, 1975, with Wilma McCann, a 28-year-old prostitute from the run-down Chapeltown district of Leeds. Sutcliffe picked her up in his lime green Ford Capri and battered her with a hammer in a nearby park before stabbing her in the neck, chest and abdomen to "make sure she was dead".

Four months later Emily Jackson from Leeds, was battered with a hammer and stabbed 52 times with a screwdriver.

Sutcliffe did not strike again until February 1977, when he killed Irene Richardson, another Leeds prostitute.

Two months later he struck for the first time in his hometown, Bradford, killing 32-year-old Patricia Atkinson.

The case only came to the attention of the national press in June 1977 when

Sutcliffe claimed the life of Jayne MacDonald, a 16-year-old shop assistant.

The murders continued and in April 1979, police made the tragic strategic mistake in believing the Ripper was Wearside Jack.

There were three more murders before Sutcliffe was caught in Sheffield early in 1981.

He had been questioned a number of times by the investigation team, but was eliminated from the inquiry because of his West Yorkshire accent.

Detectives were looking for someone from the North East.

The biggest controversy over the Wearside Jack tape and letters was whether George Oldfield's decision to concentrate so much effort on it meant Sutcliffe was able to murder three more women while the police were distracted.

He was caught, almost by accident, in a red light district in Sheffield.

When he was finally snared, he told police: "Well, it's me. I'm glad it is all over. I would have killed that girl in Sheffield if I hadn't been caught."

"But I want to tell my wife myself. It is her I'm thinking about - and my family. I am not bothered about myself."

During the next 15 hours Sutcliffe gave a detailed statement about his life as the Ripper. He was jailed later that same year and is now in Broadmoor Special Hospital.