Jack the Ripper never existed

[Still Waters]

THE Jack the Ripper mystery that has kept the world enthralled since the killer first struck on the streets of Victorian London has been blown apart on the 125th anniversary of the grisly crimes by a former murder squad detective.

And the bad news for the countless millions of amateur sleuths who have spent years trying to identify the nation’s most notorious serial killer is that he never existed.

http://www.express.c...after-125-years

[Antilles]

THE Jack the Ripper mystery that has kept the world enthralled since the killer first struck on the streets of Victorian London has been blown apart on the 125th anniversary of the grisly crimes by a former murder squad detective.

And the bad news for the countless millions of amateur sleuths who have spent years trying to identify the nation’s most notorious serial killer is that he never existed.

http://www.express.c...after-125-years

Well, the Jack the Ripper moniker was obviously the creation of a journalist.

However.....I notice Mr Marriott is in the middle of a 35 town speaking engagement to spruik his book.

Whod'a thunk it.....

[Keel M.]

He comes across like Patricia Cornwell did in her book - "these other idiots are wrong and I'm right so don't question me"

[Aggie]

And this is another example why you shouldn't believe anything you read in the newspapers.

[Regi]

The man sounds sensible to me. I certainly see no reason to doubt his credibility, and I'm interested in what his research has shown.

[paperdyer]

As Colonel Klink would say "Verrryyy interesting!"

[tyrant lizard]

i thought it was Vincent van Gough...

[BarnabasCollins]

I found this part from the article the most interesting.

“New facts have come to light, we’ve now disproved the claim that the killer removed organs from the victims at the scenes of the murders, the organs were removed later once they were in a mortuary.

I may read the book to see what evidence he has for this and his other claims.

[Junior Chubb]

Detective claims Jack the Ripper didn't exist

Neither does Trevor Marriott...

Edited September 24, 2013 by Junior Chubb

[Talion]

Too many theories and lost evidence has left the case open for so many decades now.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

so the murders were unrelated?

Well seeing as prostitution was a more dangerous job then being part of a front-line cavalry unit at the time, I can see how the argument might hold some water.

And as the "dear boss" letter has always had a degree of what we'd call "trollishness" these days about it.

Except, there seems to be an evolving pathology to the murders, which implies not a series of random murders that have been forced together, but rather a single person on a spree.

Conversely, how many other prostitutes were killed in that same period - could the papers have cherry picked murders that look like they're connected in order to make the Metropolitan Police look useless?

[Rapscallion]

Arnt they linked due to the organs going missing ? If there's proof they didn't go missing it throws a whole different light on the matter , I've read numourus books on the subject & all give a convincing case for their own suspect

[dibatag]

I dought that the prostitutes of the time though he was an urban mith, all the books i have read seem to agree on one thing he was real person

[EtherialNight]

@Sir Wearer of Hats, I agree, I have been fascinated with the Ripper case for most of my life, I have read an awful lot about it, and I agree that the MO and the pathological features remains that a singular person carried out these murders. It doesn't gel that it was random killings, by random people. There was a degree of medical skill involved that was not prevalent in the general public at the time.

The name "Jack the ripper" was most likely made up by whomever wrote that note, first coining the name.

[Lava_Lady]

5 murders were attributed to "Jack"; I can see how maybe not all of those were committed by one person, I think that it is implausible to say none are related.

I always felt it was Carl Feigenbaum since he had the perfect get away, being in the shipping industry but, that theory too has holes in it. Especially if trying to tie all of the murders to him.

This type of gruesome murder seems so passionate and so specific I have a hard time thinking that there was more than one perpetrator but I see that it is possible in the way of copy cat killers and such. The article states there were more murders of women committed in the time frame in the general area that were not categorized as "Jack the ripper" victims. I'm curious as to what made them decide that.

This author is coming from an angle that is fresh so, I'm looking forward to his book coming out. I can hardly wait to see what new evidence he's uncovered. It's got to be more convincing that vague forms in art work.

[Skep B]

Weird, i was talking about this in Forensics class the other day and floated the idea he never was 1 person.

damn psychic book theives

[Antilles]

i thought it was Vincent van Gough...

Yeah, what's happened to our buddy who was convinced Vincent was Jack.

[Q-C]

I couldn't tell from the article that this detective is claiming the White Chapel murders were not committed by the same man. All I could figure from the article is that Marriott has theorized:

1. There were more, similar murders committed in other countries before and after White Chapel.

2. Marriott attributes some of the murders, including those outside the infamous White Chapel ladies, but not all, to a seaman Feigenbaum

3. It is only the name "Jack the Ripper" that cannot be attributed to the killer, by the killer himself. (This false attribution solidified the one killer only public mindset)

4. He hasn't told us his thoughts on each of the White Chapel murders (one killer or more). We'll need to pay for that information.

The second photo's exploitive crotch shot just degrades the victims all over again, and reinforces the sick misogynistic mind of the women's murderer(s) and the subsequent salacious interest in these crimes. This should be reserved for the killer's mind, and not the general public to sell something, imo. If that was my mother/sister/wife I'd be sickened and livid.

Edited September 25, 2013 by QuiteContrary

[Antilles]

30 September is arriving on Monday. Night of the double murder. Liz Stride 1st with only her throat cut. Then Cathy Eddowes in Mitre Square. Face slashed, body slashed and part of her kidney removed.

I don't believe there was more than one murderer and the double murder night clinches the deal for me.

What are the odds that 2 women would be murdered in exactly the same fashion on the same night in the same small area?

Strangled, laid on the ground, throat cut so the arterial blood splashes away from the murderer. There was only one Jack.

The police had the best chance they would ever have to catch him that night. They were saturating the streets and they let one of his victims out of the lockup because she'd sobered up.

His last victim, Mary Kelly, was indoors because the police presence on the streets was overwhelming. Jack couldn't kill anymore outside so he let her lead him into her room.

Jack didn't murder because he enjoyed it. The actual deaths were quick. It's what he did after the women were dead that gave him his pleasure.

"Jack the Ripper" was the name given by a journo. The only letter that could even come close to being original, IMO, is the Mr Lusk letter. Because it's the only one that has any emotion in it. He talks about frying the kidney and eating it. It was nice. That's the mark of a psychotic serial murderer.

[HollyDolly]

I couldn't tell from the article that this detective is claiming the White Chapel murders were not committed by the same man. All I could figure from the article is that Marriott has theorized:

1. There were more, similar murders committed in other countries before and after White Chapel.

2. Marriott attributes some of the murders, including those outside the infamous White Chapel ladies, but not all, to a seaman Feigenbaum

3. It is only the name "Jack the Ripper" that cannot be attributed to the killer, by the killer himself. (This false attribution solidified the one killer only public mindset)

4. He hasn't told us his thoughts on each of the White Chapel murders (one killer or more). We'll need to pay for that information.

The second photo's exploitive crotch shot just degrades the victims all over again, and reinforces the sick misogynistic mind of the women's murderer(s) and the subsequent salacious interest in these crimes. This should be reserved for the killer's mind, and not the general public to sell something, imo. If that was my mother/sister/wife I'd be sickened and livid.

It's funny that you mention other murders. I recall my dad ages ago mentioning that there were similar murders commited in Europe.,think one place he mentioned was Paris. He also mentioned that there was the thought maybe the killer was a seaman. Heck,if you go along with that line,could have even been a ship's doctor.

Now where he came up with this seaman theory,i didnt think to ask. So it's possibly something he had read somewhere over the years.

Still think White Chapel was one person.Look at the Green River Killer.Just recently I saw either on Yahoo news or in the paper that he claims to have done a few more murders than what he was charged with.He killed more women than old Jack,and it was all the work of one man.

[The_Student]

The theory that there wasn't a Jack the Ripper and these were unconnected murders has been around for a while I think: it is a believable theory as far as the newspapers at the time had a tendency to pull in possibly unrelated murders (such as those of Martha Tabram and Emma Smith) to create top seller headlines. I think I'll read the book to see what he has to say about the misrepresentation of evidence that suggested the organs had been taken, wouldn't the horrifically cut throats suggest a common killer though?

[sgtfurry]

I never read much about the ripper story but Patricia Cornwall's ripper book was very interesting, where British master painter William Sickert being her number one suspect - there is even DNA evidence to support her claim, very provocative, but this story is certainly credible

[The_Student]

I never read much about the ripper story but Patricia Cornwall's ripper book was very interesting, where British master painter William Sickert being her number one suspect - there is even DNA evidence to support her claim, very provocative, but this story is certainly credible

It's very loose DNA evidence though, it only possibly ties Sickert to the Ripper letters which doesn't put him at any of the murders. Several experts in the field consider the letters to be largely faked anyway. It is an interesting theory though, I really wish there was some clarity over the historical documentation - one of the largest criticisms of her theory is that Sickert was allegedly in France during the murders but Cornwell claims that there is nothing that definitively says that Sickert was there. She also reckons it would be fairly easy to cross the Channel at the time of the murders, solving the problem of the documentation that he was in France. It's this timeline that makes it an unlikely theory for me at any rate.

[Ste Motson]

For the 5 murders attributed to JTR, there were 3 different MO's: 3 were throttled before having their throat slashed; Cat Eddowes had her throat cut from behind (possibly with her own knife) without being throttled; Mary Kelly had her throat slashed in her own room without being throttled whilst facing her attacker (note the defence wounds on her arms in the photographs).

There was no medical skill involved in any of the disembowelling (only 1 doctor out of the 5 who examined the victims disagreed with this, but retracted this later).

In Whitechapel there were no murders in the preceding year, 1887 (of the 80 recorded homicides in London, not a single one was recorded in Whitechapel) nor in 1886. In 1889 there was only 1 murder (compared to 79 in London) and in 1890 there was 1 recorded murder (whilst 74 were recorded in London). How can anbody suggest these murders were common in Whitechapel (nobody killed in the preceding 2 years, then 5 women killed in the space of 6 weeks)?

I am also not convinced that the 'Dear Jack' letter is a forgery.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Ste Motson

[Sweetpumper]

The locket that could unmask Jack the Ripper: Descendant of fifth victim claims tiny photo proves serial killer was Queen Victoria's surgeon

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2432987/Jack-Ripper-Queen-Victorias-surgeon-Sir-John-Williams-claims-book-written-victims-descendant.html