YORKSHIRE Ripper Peter Sutcliffe was allowed to leave prison to visit the spot where his late father's ashes were scattered, it was reported today.

Sutcliffe was allowed a day visit to the coastal town of Arnside, Cumbria, to grieve over his loss.

Now a row has broken out over the Home Office decision to grant Sutcliffe the compassionate leave.

Sutcliffe, 58, who is serving life for the brutal murders of 13 women - including one in Huddersfield - had previously been refused leave to attend the funeral of his father in Bradford.

John Sutcliffe, 81, died from cancer at a hospice near his West Yorkshire home.

Sutcliffe had hoped to leave Broadmoor top-security hospital to attend the funeral last June.

It would have been his first return to one of the towns he terrorised in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Leeds MP Fabian Hamilton has attacked the decision. But the Home Office today defended the move.

It issued a statement after The Sun reported that Sutcliffe, who killed 13 women, was allowed a day visit to the Morecambe Bay village of Arnside, to grieve over his loss.

The Home Office insisted the decision was "the right and proper thing to do".

It was initially made by former Home Secretary David Blunkett and was reaffirmed by Charles Clarke.

The Home Office said: "The decision on this individual was made by the previous Home Secretary David Blunkett who felt it was the right and proper thing to do.

"This decision was subsequently reaffirmed by Charles Clarke.

"A full and comprehensive risk assessment was made by the authorities and the individual was closely supervised at all times. At no point was there any danger to members of the public."

The Sun reported that the ashes of Sutcliffe's father were scattered by his family on the spot where they used to go on holiday.

Sutcliffe was accompanied by four nurses in a high-security van which left Broadmoor on Monday at 5.30am for the 268-mile journey to Cumbria, it added.

Keith Hellawell, former Chief Constable of West Yorkshire and now Examiner columnist, who was involved in investigating the full extent of Sutcliffe's crimes after his conviction, said he was surprised to hear about the trip.

Mr Hellawell said: "I think it is a little bizarre and also inconsistent because they have, all the time I was involved with Sutcliffe, refused him any concessions."

In May 1981 Sutcliffe was jailed for life at the Old Bailey.

Between 1975 and 1981, Sutcliffe murdered 13 women and left seven others for dead, in a killing spree which terrified the entire country.

He killed Helen Rytka in Great Northern Street, Huddersfield, and also attacked 16-year-old Theresa Sykes close to her home at Oakes.