Smash hit

Ms Chahal specialises in civil liberties and social welfare as a partner at London-based Bindmans & Partners. She was named Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year in a 2006 poll for “repeatedly pushing the boundaries of the law on behalf of those with mental illness”.

According to a report on legal website the Black Lawyers Directory, Sutcliffe’s case was referred to Ms Chahal by another solicitor because she “takes on difficult cases”.

The report said: “For Saimo this case raises the issue of how we treat mentally ill people who have committed heinous crimes and she is concerned that there is a huge amount of information in the public domain about this case that is simply untrue.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We do not comment on individuals. Sentencing is a matter for the courts.”

A Home Office spokeswoman declined to comment.

Olive Smelt survived after Sutcliffe attacked her with a hammer as she returned to her Halifax home after a night out in 1975.

She declined to comment today but her husband Harry said: “He didn’t give the victims many human rights did he? I’m too old to be appalled, I just find it irritating.”

He added: “It is water off a duck’s back as far as Olive is concerned. When you reach a certain age all that matters is waking up in the morning, putting your feet on the floor and getting on with it.”

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, told BBC Radio 5 Live that she found it difficult to see how Sutcliffe could be freed.

She said: “I find it hard to imagine circumstances in which he should be; but that is something that needs to be considered on the basis of the facts.

“Top of my list of priorities, I have to say, is not Peter Sutcliffe’s rights, it’s the rights of those people who were his victims, and how we keep this country safe.”

James Welch, legal director of Liberty, said it was established law that all life prisoners should know the minimum amount of time they must remain in prison.

“If there is uncertainty in this case, it is in everyone’s interest that this is rectified,” he said.

“Of course, prisoners use any argument available to them, but the courts’ role is to weigh these arguments against the interests of victims and society as a whole. The Human Rights Act has done more for the victims of crime than the perpetrators.”

Sutcliffe preyed on lone women, some of them prostitutes, mainly in Bradford and Leeds. Errors in the police investigation left him free to kill for five years.

He gained the name the Yorkshire Ripper because of the way he mutilated his victims after murdering them, as did the original Jack the Ripper in east London 120 years ago.

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