Metropolitan Police

Cold Case Files

Case:

Date of original investigation: August- December 1888

Officer in charge of investigation: , Head of

After a detailed and long investigation, the case of the Jack the Ripper murders still has not been solved. After interviewing several witnesses we had a vague idea of what Jack looked like. However, there were many conflicting witness reports on what Jack looked like so we could not be certain. Nevertheless, we had a list of suspects from the witness reports and other evidence left at the scene. Unfortunately, there was not enough evidence to convict any of the suspects. Hopefully, in the future someone can solve these horrendous crimes if more information comes to light. Therefore, the investigation team and I leave behind the information we have on the suspects so that one day he can be found.

Charles Warren, Head of the Metropolitan Police

Above: The Investigation team

Left: Charles Warren, Head of the Metropolitan Police Montague John Druitt Druitt was born in Dorset, England. He the son of a prominent local surgeon. Having received his qualifications from the University of Oxford he became a lawyer in 1885. He was also employed as an assistant schoolmaster at a boarding school in Blackheath, from 1881 until he was dismissed shortly before his death in 1888.

His body was found floating in the river Thames at Chiswick on December 31, 1888. A medical examination suggested that his body was kept at the bottom of the river for several weeks by stones places in their pockets. It was believed that he committed suicide by drowning and that he had been of “unsound mind.” His mother had suffered from depression and died in an asylum in 1890. His disappearance and death shortly after the fifth prostitute had been murdered (on 9th November 1888) and some alleged “private information” made some of the police at the time suggest Druitt was the ripper. His death therefore explained the end of the murders.

Addition to Montague John Druitt file on the Jack the Ripper case, 1992 More recently some have expressed doubt whether he committed suicide or was murdered. Recent research shows that between the Mary Kelly murder and his death, he had been involved as a lawyer in a court case, which suggests he could not have been the killer. Also, more recent research shows that Druitt had been incorrectly described as a doctor and that he was in fact 31, not 41 as had previously thought, at the time of death.

George Chapman Severin Antonocih Klosowski (also known as George Chapman- no relation to ). He was born in Poland but came to the , sometime between 1887 and 1888. When he came to England he changed his name to Chapman. He was suspicious and had a cold character who used several different names.

He was guilty for successfully poisoning three if his wives, and he was eventually hanged for this in 1903. He lived in area of London at the time of the killings where he’d been working as a barber since arriving in England. Chapman is considered by some to have had the medical skills necessary to have committed the mutilations.

However the main theory against him is that he used poison against his wives and it is unlikely that a would make such a drastic change in tactics.

Francis Tumblety Tumblety was an educated Irish-American, raised in New York. Whilst he was living in America he sold indecent pictures of women to canal boats passing along the canal. He earned a small fortune throughout America and Canada and occasionally Europe by posing as a doctor. He was a misogynist (a man who hates women, believes they should have no power) and was connected to deaths of some of his patients. He was charged by authorities in Canada but skipped the countries. It is uncertain whether these deaths were deliberate or not. He was also charged with supplying herbs to perform an illegal abortion. He was arrested and imprisoned in Washington for his part in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln but was released upon the plea of mistaken identity. He claimed to have treated many famous patients such as Charles Dickens, for a variety of illnesses. He was arrested on 7th November 1888 on charges of gross indecency. Awaiting trial, he instead fled the country for France on November 24, 1888. It had been suggested that he was released by Police bail before the final murder of on November 9th. His handwriting is also very similar to the one on the Jack supposedly wrote to Police.

Francis Thompson

Thompson was believed to be a devout catholic. In 1877 Thompson failed the priesthood and in the autumn of 1878 he registered to train as a surgeon in Manchester. He did this for the next 6 years. Students surgeons at this time were expected to be very strong and fit because the amount of work was immense. Thompson therefore would have been a very strong man. The study of the human body, with dissection classes, was a major part of training to be a surgeon, and lots of work was done in the first term. Between 1885 and 1888 Thompson spent the majority of his time homeless, living in the docks area south of Whitechapel. Thompson tried a number of different jobs. As well as a surgeon priest, Thompson tried being a soldier, but was dismissed for failing to turn up for drill practice. He also worked in a medical factory. This may have been where, apart from his years as a surgeon, Thompson got hold of the dissecting scalpel which it is claimed that he carried everywhere with him. In 1889 he wrote a short story The end Crowns the work. It was about a young poet sacrificing women to pagan gods. He also wrote a lot about hell, hoping that this would make him well known throughout the country. However, Thompson is also seen by many as a religious fanatic or a madman, committing the actions described in his story.