Has Jack The Ripper’s identity been revealed?
Writer Russell Edwards believes he has finally unmasked Jack The Ripper. However, do his findings — including results of DNA testing — stand up to scrutiny?
Image: Jack The Ripper: Written In Blood
Jack The Ripper: Written in Blood delves into how the Whitechapel Murders fuelled the rise of tabloid journalism in Britain. The series shines a light on one newspaper in particular – The Star – and its shameless exploitation of the killings to boost circulation and profits, hindering the police investigation to further its own agenda. The show starts Tuesday, 8th April on Sky HISTORY.
Who is Jack The Ripper? It’s a question generations of amateur sleuths have diligently tried to answer. In 1888, a spate of horrific violent attacks across the Whitechapel district of London’s East End left multiple ‘ladies of the night’ dead.
A total of five murders during this period have generally been attributed to the same person, due to similarities in how the women were mutilated. Though all five of these canonical Ripper victims have been conclusively identified, the same cannot be said of the murderer.
What made the Ripper’s crimes especially heinous? How did he evade capture at the time? Especially tantalisingly, does a recent breakthrough mean the identity conundrum has finally been solved after many failed attempts? Here at Sky HISTORY, we have answers to all these questions.
How were Jack The Ripper’s victims killed?
The first of the canonical victims was Mary Ann Nichols, whose corpse was found on 31st August 1888 with a slit throat and wounded abdomen. Both types of injury became recognisable aspects of the Ripper’s modus operandi.
Indeed, both were seen on the corpse of Annie Chapman discovered the following 8th September. On the last day of the month, two other women were killed in quick succession (and Ripper-like style): Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.
The manner of Mary Jane Kelly’s death suggests a slight change of tack on the Ripper’s part. On 9th November 1888, Kelly’s remains were discovered in her own room rather than on the street, where the previous victims had been found.
Why the Jack The Ripper identity puzzle lingered
In an age long before security cameras and DNA testing, the police had to rely on rather more primitive means of tracking down criminals. These included eyewitness accounts, which could be unreliable.
It shouldn’t be too surprising, then, that various bizarre theories about Jack The Ripper have emerged. Some proponents of these theories have attempted to prove them with in-depth analysis. For example, crime author Patricia Cornwell compared the DNA of painter Walter Sickert to samples from letters supposedly penned by the Ripper.
A different theory posits that American serial killer HH Holmes ventured overseas and used Whitechapel as a ‘training ground’ to hone his murderous techniques. This suggestion is largely based on circumstantial evidence that Holmes was absent from the United States during the Ripper’s killing spree.
Like many other people suspected of being Jack The Ripper, neither candidate can be definitely confirmed as the man himself. Where’s the smoking gun? As you may have heard in the news recently, one might have been found — implicating another figure long linked with the Ripper’s crimes.
So, who is Jack The Ripper? Do we now have an answer?
Researcher Russell Edwards believes so. Back in 2007, he bought a shawl thought to have been found at the scene of Eddowes’ murder. On Edwards’ request, geneticist Jari Louhelainen extracted telling traces of mitochondrial DNA from the fabric.
Aaron Kosminski was a Polish immigrant working as a hairdresser in Whitechapel around the time of the Ripper murders. According to Louhelainen, the shawl had DNA that matched samples taken from an Eddowes descendant and a descendant of Kosminski’s sister.
Edwards reckons that the Jack The Ripper identity mystery is now over, having recently told The Sun: 'It’s very difficult to put into words the elation I felt when I saw the 100% DNA match. This brings closure and it’s a form of justice for the descendants.'
Case closed? Not quite…
This new assertion of Kosminski’s guilt, despite its backing by scientific research, is unlikely to completely settle the question of who committed the Whitechapel murders.
Experts have warned against rushing to draw broad, sweeping conclusions from the Louhelainen study’s findings. One problem is the lack of firm evidence that the shawl was even at the crime scene in the first place.
Also, as pointed out by some critics, the DNA results are not as revelatory as they might initially seem. Medical University of Innsbruck researcher Hansi Weissensteiner insists that mitochondrial DNA can only reliably be used to exclude a suspect.
So, Kosminski’s DNA in this instance could easily have been left by someone else. It might also have become contaminated over time.
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