United Kingdom Murders of Jack the Ripper - London, UK - 1888-?

No recent case, lol, but still an intriguing mystery...

Jack the Ripper - History, Victims, Letters, Suspects.

The Jack the Ripper murders history site. We discuss the Whitechapel murders of 1888, outline the full history and assess the various suspects.

www.jack-the-ripper.org

Jack the Ripper murders still unsolved after a century

Facing down a hundred-year-old mystery, relentless detectives continue to search for the identity of the infamous killer, who terrorized the women of Whitechapel in autumn 1888.

www.nationalgeographic.com

 

[Sunburst]

Former police volunteer claims to know Jack the Ripper's identity

Sarah Bax Horton used witness statements and medical records from 1888, when the notorious killer murdered at least five women in Whitechapel in the East End of London, to solve the case.

www.dailymail.co.uk

The person making the new claim as to who JtR was is the great great granddaughter of one of the police officers who investigated the crimes in 1888.

 

[Cousin Dupree]

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Jack the Ripper police file made public after 136 years, heads to auction - National | Globalnews.ca

The file contains copies of the taunting letter and postcard the notorious, but never identified, serial killer sent to police.

globalnews.ca

Jack the Ripper police file made public after 136 years, heads to auction​

The identity of notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper remains an unsolved mystery, but now a police file on the infamous case has been made public after 136 years.

The killer, who became known as Jack the Ripper after writing a taunting letter to police using the moniker, savagely butchered five prostitutes in Whitechapel, east London, in 1888.

Insp. Joseph Henry Helson, who was serving in London’s Metropolitan Police at the time of the murders, maintained and kept the file.

According to Sky News, the file was passed down through four generations of the Helson family. Now it will go to auction, and it contains a number of artifacts that will likely be seen as collectible to the right bidder.

Included in the file are two photographs of Michael Ostrog, an early suspect in the case who was ruled out after his alibi showed he was in the mental asylum of a French prison when the murders happened. The photos have notes on the back listing Ostrog’s aliases, criminal record and physical appearance.

As well, the file contains the only known copy of the taunting “Saucy Jack” postcard that the killer allegedly sent to police.

Also included is a copy of the letter that was signed “Jack the Ripper” — a note sent to police bragging about his kills, which included a warning that his knife was “still nice and sharp” and promised to “clip the lady’s ears off”.

More grim is a photograph of the Ripper’s first victim, Mary Nichols, in the mortuary. Nichols was found dead on Aug. 31, 1888. The second victim, Annie Chapman, was discovered eight days later.

The lot also contains some of Helson’s personal items from his time on the police force: a pair of handcuffs, photos of him and two of his colleagues, his retirement certificate, a walking stick and an 1895 newspaper clipping about his work.

Now, the archive has been handed off by a relative to Whitton & Laing Auctioneers and will be available to bid on starting March 22. According to the auction house, it’s estimated to be worth about CA$17,000.

“For nearly 140 years the Jack the Ripper murders have held an enduring fascination and items directly connected to the crimes very rarely come up for sale,” a spokesperson for the auction house told The Telegraph.

“People should not forget that the victims were real people with real stories and we wouldn’t want to think of this murderer as an anti-hero but for the monstrous villain that he was.”

 

[GrandmaBear]

Interesting without a doubt but should a police file/investigative file of a serial killer never caught be auctioned privately or have even been kept privately. It may be centuries old and that was the way in the day but the crimes still occurred and were never solved. Such info and artifiacts and his correspondence should be in the hands of investigators always.

I guess it may seem so old that who cares but it still seems wrong and it seems wrong that the only copy of this or that has been in the hands of a family personally through all these centuries. I can see why perhaps at first, back in the way back day.

Or am I missing something and LE has the ORIGINALS wherein this man and family had the only "copy"?

And yes he's sort of an anti-hero as they say, like Al Capone was. Different things but almost admired. SICK. He was a self named ripper and he slaughtered and butchered. Nothing admirable about him. There may be to another SK just for never getting caught and getting such notoriety so long ago.

So the other side of that is it will go higher than believable purchased by some filthy rich person who can do such and HUGE profit will be made where there are long dead murdered victims and an uncaught or charged SK.

It isn't our country but it is the UK and in either country do most consider this okay these days? Seriously. This is our justice system. Even if this is all copies brought home from work (doesn't sound that way) and maintained over centuries in the family, this is investigative sh*t into an unsolved case to this day and work product.

We of course know whoever was the Ripper is long dead, that's a no brainer but it doesn't change the fact it's an unsolved case. It may make it seem not such a big deal as it's almost lore now and yes almost glorified.

Seriously though, I'm not having a sh*t fit about it because no one knew the victims or anyone from back then even if related to a victim now down the line. It just seems wrong. I'm curious as to other's thoughts? And to profit? For those that in normal ways would never see such a file if an immediate family member of an investigator and certainly never many many years later have it in hand.

I just think it would make for an interesting and unusual topic as to what others think of this?

 

[Mel70]

Interesting without a doubt but should a police file/investigative file of a serial killer never caught be auctioned privately or have even been kept privately. It may be centuries old and that was the way in the day but the crimes still occurred and were never solved. Such info and artifiacts and his correspondence should be in the hands of investigators always.

I guess it may seem so old that who cares but it still seems wrong and it seems wrong that the only copy of this or that has been in the hands of a family personally through all these centuries. I can see why perhaps at first, back in the way back day.

Or am I missing something and LE has the ORIGINALS wherein this man and family had the only "copy"?

And yes he's sort of an anti-hero as they say, like Al Capone was. Different things but almost admired. SICK. He was a self named ripper and he slaughtered and butchered. Nothing admirable about him. There may be to another SK just for never getting caught and getting such notoriety so long ago.

So the other side of that is it will go higher than believable purchased by some filthy rich person who can do such and HUGE profit will be made where there are long dead murdered victims and an uncaught or charged SK.

It isn't our country but it is the UK and in either country do most consider this okay these days? Seriously. This is our justice system. Even if this is all copies brought home from work (doesn't sound that way) and maintained over centuries in the family, this is investigative sh*t into an unsolved case to this day and work product.

We of course know whoever was the Ripper is long dead, that's a no brainer but it doesn't change the fact it's an unsolved case. It may make it seem not such a big deal as it's almost lore now and yes almost glorified.

Seriously though, I'm not having a sh*t fit about it because no one knew the victims or anyone from back then even if related to a victim now down the line. It just seems wrong. I'm curious as to other's thoughts? And to profit? For those that in normal ways would never see such a file if an immediate family member of an investigator and certainly never many many years later have it in hand.

I just think it would make for an interesting and unusual topic as to what others think of this?

I agree. It does seem wrong. If anything, It should be in a crime museum if the police are going to release it from their custody. This is in very poor taste IMO.

 

[Cousin Dupree]

I agree. It does seem wrong. If anything, It should be in a crime museum if the police are going to release it from their custody. This is in very poor taste IMO.

Especially the morgue photos.

 

[Mel70]

Especially the morgue photos.

Yes. The "Mary Kelly" One is absolutely awful.

 

[Cousin Dupree]

They have finally found out who Jack the Ripper was by testing the DNA.

We must have a thread right? Most famous unsolved murder cases ever.

MSN

Jack the Ripper's 'true identity' finally unveiled after DNA breakthrough​

Story by Gregory Robinson
• 23h

It’s a mystery that has caused intrigue for over a hundred years but now Jack the Ripper’s identity might have been revealed.

Meet Aaron Kosminski—aka Jack the Ripper—10 Reasons We Know It Was Him - Listverse

The mysterious serial killer known as Jack the Ripper has captivated the imaginations of people around the world since the Victorian Era. Jack was known

listverse.com