The identity of one of the world’s most infamous serial killer’s case may have been cracked by a man who has become somewhat an expert on all things ‘Jack the Ripper’.
More than 145 years ago, ‘Jack the Ripper’ stalked the streets of London, England, and is confirmed to have murdered at least five women in cold blood.
His victims are known as the ‘Canonical Five’, and consist of Elizabeth Stride, Mary Jane Kelly, Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman and Catherine Eddowes.
However, Jack’s identity has long remained a mystery – however, a recent breakthrough could change all of that.
The case of Jack the Ripper has never been solved despite the serial killer being at large more than a century ago (Getty stock)
Jack the Ripper suspects
Of course, there have been all kinds of claims from ‘Ripperologists’ of who Jack actually was made in the last 146 years.
So far, there have been 16 different men put forward as potential suspects, all ranging from an everyday man to royalty.
Many theories have been given as to why these men could have been the serial killer – ranging from personal connections to one of the victims to uncovering of diaries and other artefacts, The Jack the Ripper Tour says.
The majority of what we know about the Ripper comes from what he did to his five confirmed victims – and evidence from one of them was purchased at an auction by author Russell Edwards.
Jack the Ripper has become an infamous figure (Paramount/Getty Images)
In 2007, he bought a shawl owned by Catherine Eddowes and put it through DNA testing – with the results showing blood and semen stains on it.
The blood was a match of one of Eddowes’ descendants, while the semen matched a distant relative of the man who Edwards has claimed was a distant relative of one of the Ripper suspects, Aaron Kosminski, the Mirror reports.
His claim was made in Edwards’ book, titled Naming Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Reveal – the sequel of his original book Naming Jack the Ripper.
“He is no longer just a suspect. We can hold him, finally, to account for his terrible deeds.” he wrote.
“My search is over: Aaron Kosminski is Jack the Ripper.”
A computer generated image of Aaron Kosminski, one of the prime suspects to be Jack the Ripper (Russell Edwards)
In his text, he also claims that cops believed him to have had a ‘great hatred of women, specially of the prostitute class, and had strong homicidal tendencies’.
Kosminski was a Polish barber, who emigrated to England in the 1880s, but in March 1889, he was admitted to an asylum – and 30 years later, he died at the age of 53.
However, Edwards’ claim has been refuted by experts over the years.
With there being over 100 years since the murder and the shawl having changed hands multiple times, in 2014, Ripper expert Andrew Smith said in order to solve the case ‘we need forensic evidence and there isn’t any’.
He added that it was ‘highly unlikely’ that any DNA evidence on the shawl hadn’t become contaminated over the years.
The Independent also reported that the scientist who’d carried out the test had apparently made a ‘error of nomenclature’, which if proven true, meaning it could be anyone’s DNA on the shawl.
Best leave our tinfoil hats off for this one, eh?
