A NEW true-crime documentary looking at the brutal crimes of Peter Sutcliffe has been slammed by the families of the serial killer's victims.

Nexflix is due to release The Ripper on 16 December and the documentary promises to look at the Sutcliffe's savage killing spree across the North and the police's struggle to apprehend him. 

But, the families of Sutcliffe's victims have spoken out against the upcoming series after the name was changed from One Upon a Time in Yorkshire to The Ripper. 

In a letter signed by two survivors of Peter Sutcliffe, Marcella Claxton and Mo Lea, and relatives of seven of Sutcliffe's victims, they said: "The moniker "the Yorkshire Ripper" has traumatised us and our families for the past four decades.

"It glorifies the brutal violence of Peter Sutcliffe, and grants him a celebrity status that he does not deserve.  Please remember that the word 'ripper' relates to ripping flesh and the repeated use of this phrase is irresponsible, insensitive and insulting to our families and our mothers’ and grandmothers’ legacies." 

Richard McCann, the son of Sutcliffe's first victim Wilma, posted the open letter on Linkedin, where it generated a huge outpouring of support, with many urging Netflix to 'do the right thing.'

In response to the letter, a Netflix spokesperson has defended the documetary saying: "This is not a series about Sutcliffe but a sensitive re-examination of the crimes within the context of England in the late 1970s.

"This was a time of radical change: a time of poverty and misogyny in which Sutcliffe’s victims were dehumanised by the media and the police, and which resulted in the perpetrator evading capture for five years. This series has at its heart the stories of the women who died.”

The official synopsis for the Netflix series reads: "For five years, between 1975 to 1980, the Yorkshire Ripper murders cast a dark shadow over the lives of women in the North of England. It was a time of national hysteria. 13 women were dead and the police seemed incapable of catching the killer. No one felt safe – and every man was a suspect. 

"Chronicling the twists and turns of the largest police manhunt in British police history, this evocative four-part series re-examines the crimes within the context of England in the late 1970s: a time of radical change, de-industrialisation, poverty, masculinity and misogyny, all of which contributed to the Ripper evading capture for so long."

Sutcliffe died last month after reportedly refusing treatment at the University Hospital of North Durham. He was serving a whole life term for murdering 13 women across Yorkshire and north-west England between 1975 and 1980.

He was convicted in 1981 and spent three decades at Broadmoor Hospital before being moved to HMP Frankland in County Durham in 2016.

His five-year reign of terror claimed the lives of 13 women. They were:

Wilma McCann, 28, from Chapeltown, Leeds, who was killed in October 1975.

Emily Jackson, 42, a prostitute and mother-of-three from Morley, Leeds. Killed on January 20, 1976.

Irene Richardson, 28, a mother-of-two from Chapeltown, Leeds. Killed on February 6, 1977.

Patricia Atkinson, 32, a mother-of-three from Manningham, Bradford. Killed on April 24, 1977.

Jayne MacDonald, 16, a shop assistant from Leeds. Killed on June 26, 1977.

Jean Jordan, 21, from Manchester, who died between September 30 and October 11, 1977.

Yvonne Pearson, 22, from Bradford. Murdered between January 20 and March 26, 1978.

Helen Rytka, 18, from Huddersfield. Murdered on January 31, 1978.

Vera Millward, 40, a mother-of-seven from Manchester, who was killed on May 16, 1978.

Josephine Whitaker, 19, a building society worker from Halifax. Killed on April 4, 1979.

Barbara Leach, 20, a student who was murdered while walking in Bradford on September 1, 1979.

Marguerite Walls, 47, a civil servant from Leeds who was murdered on August 20, 1980

Jacqueline Hill, 20, a student, who was found at Headingley on November 16, 1980.