Original Jack The Ripper Identified

[Des.]

This caught my interest after learning quite a bit about the Jack The Ripper cases. I have always had a keen interest in historical figures and thought this was quite a discovery, especially considering it was 126 years ago now.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2746321/Jack-Ripper-unmasked-How-amateur-sleuth-used-DNA-breakthrough-identify-Britains-notorious-criminal-126-years-string-terrible-murders.html

[Unabomber]

Nah not having that, reckon it was the other guy

[ADK]

Another reason to vote UKIP then.

[Jimothy]

Kind of bittersweet finding out who he is. Part of the what makes people interested in it is the mystery of who it was, but then I guess part of it is also a hope that the truth would be found.

[Mark_w]

Another reason to vote UKIP then.

Nah not having that, reckon it was the other guy

 

[Kitchandro]

Some people on that article saying that that evidence doesn't prove it was him.

 

I suppose it could have been coincidental. It's pretty incriminating that the shawl probably belonged to him and it had his semen and her blood on it though. Especially as he was already a prime suspect.

[Guest Bilo]

The Daily Mail must have produced more semen than the bloke himself when they found out Jack the Ripper was a Polish immigrant.

[Mark_w]

Some people on that article saying that that evidence doesn't prove it was him.

 

I suppose it could have been coincidental. It's pretty incriminating that the shawl probably belonged to him and it had his semen and her blood on it though. Especially as he was already a prime suspect.

 

I've always got the impression when I studied this, and from bits and pieces I've read, that Kosminski was most likely the murderer. I think some people just don't want to know.

[DennisNedry]

What a brilliant discovery, although it is not conclusive proof, it is most probably the closest we'll ever get.

 

I have been interested in this for years. I have a great book which contains photocopies of many of the key original documents of the time (police reports, press reports, alleged letters from the killer etc).

 

The book does name Kosminski as one of the prime suspects.

 

It does say that Sir Robert Anderson and Chief Inspector Donald Swanson who were the two highest ranking officers in connection with the killings both concluded that it was indeed Kosminski. The officers also said in public memoirs years later that an eyewitness 'unhesitatingly identified the suspect but refused to give evidence against him..' apparently as he did not want to condemn to man to the death penalty.

 

Kosminski was certainly schizophrenic, delusional and paranoid (or as they said at the time 'a feeble-minded imbecile') but his records at Colney State Asylum specifically say that he was not a danger to others.

 

He may have just been a punter from earlier in the night, but I'd say that that'd be too much of a coincidence.

[Rincewind]

What a brilliant discovery, although it is not conclusive proof, it is most probably the closest we'll ever get.

 

I have been interested in this for years. I have a great book which contains photocopies of many of the key original documents of the time (police reports, press reports, alleged letters from the killer etc).

 

The book does name Kosminski as one of the prime suspects.

 

It does say that Sir Robert Anderson and Chief Inspector Donald Swanson who were the two highest ranking officers in connection with the killings both concluded that it was indeed Kosminski. The officers also said in public memoirs years later that an eyewitness 'unhesitatingly identified the suspect but refused to give evidence against him..' apparently as he did not want to condemn to man to the death penalty.

 

Kosminski was certainly schizophrenic, delusional and paranoid (or as they said at the time 'a feeble-minded imbecile') but his records at Colney State Asylum specifically say that he was not a danger to others.

 

He may have just been a punter from earlier in the night, but I'd say that that'd be too much of a coincidence.

Wasn't the killer supposed to be skilled with a knife or was that just the movies? They also were rumours of a royal connection. Have i got fact and fiction mixed?

[Finnegan]

Daily Mail running with a story that an eastern EU immigrant was Jack the Ripper.

Nothing like conforming to type.

[Buzzell]

Interesting

[Finnegan]

I've always got the impression when I studied this, and from bits and pieces I've read, that Kosminski was most likely the murderer. I think some people just don't want to know.

Probably true, I like it being a mystery more than knowing that some mentally ill bloke left untreated killed a few women.

It's pretty obvious and benign when put like that, it's far more fascinating as a royal conspiracy or some other cliché.

That said, the cynics have a point. Trying to use and claim scientific evidence some hundred plus years down the line is immensely tenuous.

[Guest ttfn]

I was with them until the bloke claimed he had no expectations of finding anything on the shawl directly linking the killer.

So you went to significant personal expense to buy the shawl and hired a criminologist for what exactly?

Seems a bit fishy to me.

[Vlad the Fox]

I was with them until the bloke claimed he had no expectations of finding anything on the shawl directly linking the killer.

So you went to significant personal expense to buy the shawl and hired a criminologist for what exactly?

Seems a bit fishy to me.

Thats the smell of 125 year old sperm for you.

 

Wet blanket: http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/431148/Jack-the-Ripper-mystery-solved-by-top-detective-after-125-years

 

Its a story thats fascinated millions for over a century, it would be a disappointment if the above was true.

[MC Prussian]

I was with them until the bloke claimed he had no expectations of finding anything on the shawl directly linking the killer.

So you went to significant personal expense to buy the shawl and hired a criminologist for what exactly?

Seems a bit fishy to me.

Or they're just desperate to sell the book.

[Finnaldo]

Probably true, I like it being a mystery more than knowing that some mentally ill bloke left untreated killed a few women.

It's pretty obvious and benign when put like that, it's far more fascinating as a royal conspiracy or some other cliché.

That said, the cynics have a point. Trying to use and claim scientific evidence some hundred plus years down the line is immensely tenuous.

If true then it's still fascinating how someone with a mental illness managed to be so efficient and cautious when dealing with any incriminating evidence to not be uncovered until over 120 years after his crimes.

However the fact he got banged up for being mental sort of nullifies the great escape idea.

[Rincewind]

Cynic.

On the shawl evidence they did DNA tests on Richard III to confirm and scientists have even done it on remains thousands of years ago. I always thought the theory was that it was someone with medical knowledge because the cuts were neat. So it just turns out to be a crazy man running around with a knife. How boring and what a disappointing result for a mystery.

[lgfualol]

Daily mail

[Mark_w]

Cynic.

On the shawl evidence they did DNO tests on Richard III to confirm and scientists have even done it on remains thousands of years ago. I always thought the theory was that it was someone with medical knowledge because the cuts were neat. So it just turns out to be a crazy man running around with a knife. How boring and what a disappointing result for a mystery.

If true then it's still fascinating how someone with a mental illness managed to be so efficient and cautious when dealing with any incriminating evidence to not be uncovered until over 120 years after his crimes.

However the fact he got banged up for being mental sort of nullifies the great escape idea.

 

Do we actually know why he was put i an asylum?

Is it not possible that the police knew Kosminski was Jack The Ripper (At the very least Anderson and Swanson believed he was), but couldn't get the witness to give evidence against him. So they ended up getting him sent to the asylum? Or did so worried about the public backlash to a Jewish immigrant being responsible.?

 

Does anyone who knows a bit more about it, know if there's any evidence to support the view that Kosminski was 'just some crazy guy'?

 

Edit: I mean aside from the brutally killing five+ people bit if he did.

[Finnaldo]

DNO doing tests on Richard III? They've branched out a bit now, eh Rincey?

[Rincewind]

Daily mail

So any ground breaking news that happened last week will hit their headlines in 2114?

 

If its from a book.  it will be good publicity until the  next Jack The Ripper book.

[Finnaldo]

Do we actually know why he was put i an asylum?

Is it not possible that the police knew Kosminski was Jack The Ripper (At the very least Anderson and Swanson believed he was), but couldn't get the witness to give evidence against him. So they ended up getting him sent to the asylum? Or did so worried about the public backlash to a Jewish immigrant being responsible.?

Does anyone who knows a bit more about it, know if there's any evidence to support the view that Kosminski was 'just some crazy guy'?

Pretty anti-climatic really. Went in a workhouse, went full-blown insane. Auditorial hallucinations, believing people were putting stuff in his food, refused to wash. Studying Psychology at the minute and it sounds like he'd be diagnosed with Schizophrenia nowadays. Died in 1919 in an asylum.

[Rincewind]

DNO doing tests on Richard III? They've branched out a bit now, eh Rincey?

edited, We are not that good yet.

[Finnaldo]

Saying that, if he did indeed have Schizophrenia, as the symptoms suggest, then it makes a bit more sense. Although Schizophrenics are generally only violent to themselves, there have been some rare, but pretty grim, accounts of extremely violent acts. Here's one I found:

http://news.sky.com/story/1177722/schizophrenic-jailed-for-beheading-flatmate

So that could be another point in favour of the murders, especially considering the sheer violence included in all of the Whitechapel murders.