Ripping Yarns

I have always been fascinated by the mysteries surrounding Jack The Ripper. Liz knows this, and five years ago took me to the City Of London Cemetery Open Day, where I saw the graves of Catherine Eddowes and Mary Ann Nicholls.

Today a book is being published which claims that finally, we have definite proof of the Ripper’s identity.

With Catherine Eddowes body was found a shawl – this was kept by one of the policemen, but it came up for auction some years ago

Russell Edwards, an ‘armchair detective’ with a lifelong obsession with the Ripper, purchased the shawl. After much research, and with the help of a DNA specialist, he claims that he has established the identity of the Ripper. There are six ‘main’ suspects – three from the upper echelons of society, three from the lower classes. Edwards has tested the evidence.

He says that tests on bloosd and semen stains show that “Jack The Ripper” was in fact Aaron Kosminski, a deranged schizophrenic Polish hairdresser from Whitechapel. You can read more here.

I wait to see what other ‘experts’ say about this ‘solution’ to a puzzle which is 126 years old.  I know that crime writer P J Cornwell still maintains it was the artist Walter Sickert. And I wonder if this will affect future episodes of “Ripper Street”.