Would Jack the Ripper ever be positively identified? Over the past ten years, new facts have emerged about the case and new information has been gathered by criminological scientists. During this time there has been more serious research conducted on the mystery of the Ripper than at any other time since the case was officially closed. Many researchers still speculate on why this decision was taken within two months of Mary Kelly’s murder and the case was never reopened, not even when two more, similar murders came to light later on.
Plainly, the police had their reasons. I suggest one reason could have been the huge cost of having so many officers working on the murders. All the extra manpower would have had to be paid for out of police funds, which would have been stretched to the limits. Indeed, this same problem arises today, with local forces having to secure extra funding from the government for protracted murder cases.
When there were no more killings within that two-month period following Kelly’s murder, it may have been decided to scale down the inquiry, leaving only a handful of officers to continue with it. This is still normal practice nowadays, and there is a logic to it.
I must say that up until now it was debatable whether the case would ever be solved. If, as some researchers suggest, the police did solve it but for some reason kept the killer’s identity a secret, I believe the odds are good that the answer would be rediscovered. Unfortunately, I do not believe that the police did solve the case. It is clear they had suspicions but no one has ever been convicted on mere suspicion, and, whatever these suspicions were, they were not fully documented at the time.
When the later murders occurred in 1889 and 1891, the police, I imagine, did not relish the thought of chasing shadows again, after carrying out their initial enquiries into the murders. I think they did not want to cause fear and panic once again, so they chose not to publicly link the later murders to Jack the Ripper, despite the obvious similarities that I have highlighted.
As I stated earlier, I firmly believe that there are case papers and other documents relating to the murders still in existence somewhere. What they contain, only time will tell; if they ever come to light at all. Tantalisingly, it could be that missing material is gathering dust in a loft or cupboard of a distant relative of one of the main investigators.
The challenge to find answers is now far greater as today’s researchers must find new evidence rather than unearth what has been lost, as I set out to do at the start of my investigation. As to the extent of the papers that have been lost or destroyed, we cannot tell. Supposedly, most of the City of London Police files were lost in the Blitz during the Second World War. What remains of the Metropolitan Police files is available to the public but the files are sparse and reveal nothing that has not been widely known for many years. Some claim that the files were purposely destroyed to keep the murderer’s identity a secret. Others suggest that important case papers were stolen from the files and are now in the hands of a collector. I know that the Metropolitan Police believe this is what happened, and I was asked by them if I knew anyone who had a collection of case papers. Even if this theory is correct, I suspect that the material may not contain the identity of the killer. Even if it does, whoever has it would surely have wanted to reveal the Ripper’s identity after all these years, particularly since, owing to the passage of time, they would not be liable to criminal prosecution for being in possession of old police documents obtained by criminal means.
When Inspector Abberline, one of the main Ripper investigators, was interviewed at home in 1903, the journalist noted that official files surrounded the retired Scotland Yard inspector. Police officers in those days were not averse to taking files home, so it may well be that case files from serving police officers of the day are still in existence. This could be one reason why the main Scotland Yard files contain very little information.
The truth about the ‘missing’ documents may be far more pedestrian and unromantic. Over the years when original documents could be physically examined in the Public Record Office, it was easy for documents to be removed from the files as souvenirs. As a result, the remaining documents were put on microfilm. In Victorian times, when filing space was required, clerks would often simply dump old files by the armful.
Did senior police officers know the identity of the killer? I think not, as in all murder cases the main investigation is done by rank-and-file officers. Any leads or major revelations would have emanated from these officers, making it more difficult for senior officers to cover up, and, in any event, had this happened I am sure this fact would have been made public at some stage since then. Someone would have talked: everyone has a price.
Besides, as I noted earlier, Inspector Abberline stated in later years that at the time of the murders he had no suspicions. In later years, he mentioned his suspect George Chapman, but provided nothing concrete to support his suspicion. Other senior police officers, years after the case was closed, had their own favoured suspects, but they, like Abberline, did not offer evidence. My belief is that throughout the series of murders all police officers remained completely in the dark as to the identity of the killer.
Was there a cover-up at the highest level of government? This is highly unlikely. The only way it could have happened is if the killer was an important figure in society and his identity had been made known only to a select few and subsequent measures had been taken to ensure that he did not kill again. In this case, the Home Secretary, Henry Matthews, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Charles Warren, and the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, would have been the only ones in a position to be party to a cover-up.
The letters I have examined from Queen Victoria suggest that she wrote several times to Lord Salisbury of her concern about the murders. So, if there was a cover-up, it stopped short of involving the Queen, but the protagonists played a dangerous game.
Of course, if a cover-up did occur it could explain why my enquiries revealed that the Public Record Office holds no correspondence between any of these figures on the Whitechapel murders. However, I don’t believe there was a cover-up. The dearth of correspondence could be because, as I have suggested, there were no suspects, no clues and no evidence at the time of the murders. And, if the police were in the dark, the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister would have been even more in the dark. This idea is borne out by the new documents I unearthed that relate to November 1888, after the majority of the murders had been committed.
Having examined closely all aspects of these murders, I could find no evidence to suggest that any of the main suspects that I investigated was Jack the Ripper. After all these years, I think the time has come to let the dust settle forever on these suspects and to allow them to rest in peace. Yet I fear this will not happen, for there are still many people throughout the world who are obsessed with Jack the Ripper. I am sure they will continue to look at all these same suspects for many years to come, refusing to accept reality. Nevertheless, I am convinced they would do better to channel their efforts into seeking out new suspects, as I have done.
In conclusion, I believe I can claim to have cast serious doubt on some of the accepted facts that have been a part of the Ripper mystery for many years. Beyond this, I have introduced a new type of suspect through a new line of enquiry and, in so doing, have added a new chapter to one of the most intriguing cases ever seen in the history of murder investigation.
Like others, I would continue to search for that elusive piece of evidence that will write the final chapter to the Ripper story. As far as investigation by the police is concerned, the case is closed. I have been officially told this, and that it will never be reopened. For me, this simply brings to mind that famous saying, ‘Never say never’, which proved to be a wise maxim.