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[bell tolls]
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[woman screams]
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[sinister music plays]
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[screams]
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[laughter]
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The Ripper! He's done it again!
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The Ripper has done it again!
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[man 1] People have heard
the name of Jack the Ripper
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even if they don't know
what Jack the Ripper did.
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He was a terrible killer,
Jack the Ripper. Yeah.
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And he was never caught or punished.
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- What a clever fellow. Yay.
- [audience laughs]
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[man 1] It happened
in Victorian times in London,
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but there are books about Jack the Ripper
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written in Japanese, Chinese,
Italian, and Spanish,
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so the… the name's around everywhere.
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{\an8}[man] Jack the Ripper!
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{\an8}[speaks in Japanese]
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Stop using that stupid name!
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Jack has taken on a life of his own
that's outside of what he actually did.
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But when you realize
the full horror of the crimes,
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your perspective changes.
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The crimes were horrendous.
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He tried to cut her nose off,
tried to cut an ear off,
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put slashes and gashes all over.
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He cuts out her heart.
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[man 2] It really does
take your breath away.
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If you think about it,
the mystery's popular for several reasons.
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Firstly, Jack the Ripper frightened people
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in a way that no killer
had ever done before,
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and probably no killer's ever done since.
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The other reason it's remained popular
is it's an ever-evolving story.
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It happened over 135 years ago,
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and yet we're still trying
to solve the mystery.
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[unsettling music plays]
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[music fades]
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{\an8}[bell tolls]
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{\an8}[bell tolls]
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[bell tolls]
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{\an8}[bell tolls]
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{\an8}[bell tolls]
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[man 2] In the early hours
of 31st August of 1888,
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a policeman comes down his beat
in Whitechapel.
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[tense music plays]
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[man 2] Suddenly, he sees something
lying in a gateway.
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{\an8}As he gets closer,
he sees it's a woman lying on the ground.
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He's got a lantern,
so he shines the lantern onto her
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and sees that her throat's been cut.
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What he doesn't see is that,
beneath her bloodstained clothing,
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she's been disemboweled.
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[woman] There were several people
living in the area.
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{\an8}There was even people in the very house
next to the gates in which she was found,
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{\an8}and they hear and see nothing.
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It had obviously happened quietly
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right under a window
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where honest people
were sleeping in their beds.
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It was a very, very ferocious attack.
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[uneasy music plays]
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At the mortuary, it was noticed
that there was a deep, jagged wound
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{\an8}from the… from the breastbone
all the way down to the abdomen,
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{\an8}completely severing the tissue
in-- inside her stomach.
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[uneasy music continues]
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[Richard] When the authorities went around
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saying, "Does anyone
recognize this person?"
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she was identified
as someone they knew as Polly.
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{\an8}[Adam] Mary Ann Nichols,
commonly known as Polly,
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{\an8}she was 43 years old
at the time of her murder.
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[Richard] Polly hadn't been
in the East End of London for long,
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as far as we can tell.
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But she'd become an alcoholic,
and that led to a downward spiral.
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[Adam] And she was extremely poor,
living on her own,
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struggling to earn a living
through casual prostitution.
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[uneasy music plays]
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[Richard] She had been
drinking that night,
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and she didn't have the money
to pay for a bed,
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{\an8}so she was ejected
from a common lodging house.
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{\an8}[tense music plays]
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{\an8}[Lindsay] She'd gone out for sex work,
to raise money for a bed for the night.
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Polly's last known words to the deputy
of the lodging house is actually,
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"See what a jolly bonnet I've got now?"
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{\an8}So that's sort of the words
she was saying.
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{\an8}"I'm going out
to be able to… to get a gentleman,
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because see how beautiful I'm looking."
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"I'll be back. Keep my bed.
I'll be back shortly."
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And that's when she was attacked
and horribly mutilated.
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[Adam] The killer put his fingers
around her throat,
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killing her
before she had a chance to cry out.
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In the East End in the 1880s,
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murder wasn't as… as common
as… as you might think it was,
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{\an8}and so, Polly's murder
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{\an8}would have been probably seen
by the police at the time as a one-off.
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[Lindsay] London in 1888
was the biggest city in the world.
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You have the West End,
very rich, prosperous,
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the East End, very, very poor.
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Whitechapel was a district
within the East End of London.
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{\an8}It was an area where you had people
barely able to survive,
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{\an8}people living in poverty,
people literally starving to death.
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[Lindsay] Off the main thoroughfares,
you had all these rat-infested alleyways
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and courts.
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Really, really horrific.
People living in awful conditions.
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Many single women in the East End
couldn't afford their own house or flat.
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So every day, they'd have to try
and scrape together four old pennies
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for a bed for the night,
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in what we call a common lodging house,
or doss-house.
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And I say "beds,"
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but in many of these places,
they were actually coffins
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lined up in rows up against the walls.
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A lot of the women would have to resort
to casual prostitution.
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It was a case of what they needed to do
to… to get that… that income.
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[Richard] There is a term for these women,
which was "unfortunates,"
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because they'd fallen through the net.
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[Lindsay] I think Jack the Ripper
targeted these women
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because they were easy targets
and vulnerable ladies walking the streets.
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If it was prostitution
that they used to survive,
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they were the ones who knew the streets.
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So, effectively, it was the victims
who chose the murder site.
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Because of what they did,
they knew where to take their clients to
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where there was
little danger of interruption.
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So they chose, unwittingly,
the perfect place at which to be murdered.
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[somber music plays]
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[distant laughter]
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[Lindsay] So Polly Nichols
is killed August 31st.
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Literally a week later, on 8th September,
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another murder takes place,
and that's Annie Chapman.
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[Adam] Annie was found murdered
in the rear yard of Hanbury Street,
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{\an8}also in the East End,
close to where Polly was killed.
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She was laying on her back, in the yard,
with her face towards the step.
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She had terrible mutilations,
the same as Polly.
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[Richard] The killer's taken a trophy.
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He's cut out and gone off
with the womb of the victim,
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which suggested
that the reason for the murder
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had been specifically so the killer
could acquire that part of her anatomy.
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{\an8}Annie was the oldest of our victims.
She was 47 years old.
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{\an8}According to police reports,
Annie had no income whatsoever.
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To survive, she started selling trinkets
on the streets.
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When that didn't work, then she would
resort to casual prostitution.
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Again, as with Polly Nichols,
on the night before her murder,
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she hasn't got the money
to pay for her bed.
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{\an8}[tense music plays]
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{\an8}[Adam] So witnesses said she was
walking around, looking for a client,
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{\an8}and then, at some point that night,
a witness had seen Annie talking to a man
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{\an8}outside the front door
to 29 Hanbury Street,
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{\an8}but she didn't see his face.
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She later said
he had the appearance of a foreigner
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from the way he was dressed.
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It's believed
that this was Jack the Ripper.
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[Lindsay] And according to police records,
what we know happens next,
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the two go through the entrance,
which was never locked, to Number 29.
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It led into a passageway.
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And the dark passageway
led into the backyard.
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That's where Jack kills Annie.
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[uneasy music plays]
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[Adam] Staying at Number 27 Hanbury Street
at the time of Annie's murder,
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which was the house next door,
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uh, was a man… a man named Albert Cadosch.
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[Lindsay] He was going into the toilet,
which was at the bottom of the garden,
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and he overhears a cry of "no"
and a thud against the fence.
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And many believe that was actually
Annie's body hitting the fence.
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{\an8}[uneasy music continues]
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{\an8}[Adam] In all probability,
if he had looked over the fence,
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{\an8}he would have witnessed the murder
of Annie Chapman being committed.
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[tense music plays]
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{\an8}[Lindsay] Annie's throat had been cut
from left to right,
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{\an8}back to the spinal column.
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{\an8}She'd been ripped up to the breastbone.
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Her intestines had been taken out
and placed over her shoulder.
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At her feet were several objects
from her calico pocket,
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which had been cut open.
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There was a comb, a piece of paper,
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all sorts of things just out of her pocket
that she'd been wearing.
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He'd laid them out,
almost systematically, at her feet.
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Very bizarre.
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[Richard] And because she's been mutilated
in the same way as Polly,
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police believe that both murders
were by the same hand.
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At the scene of the crime,
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they're looking for any clues
that the murderer's left behind.
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And that's when the police find
a freshly-washed leather apron
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in the corner of the yard.
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And they think, "Oh, we've got him.
We've got the murderer."
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[Adam] And the reason
for that bit of excitement was,
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after the murder of Polly Nichols,
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the police were already investigating
a suspect known as Leather Apron.
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At the time,
the prostitutes in Whitechapel
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had started talking about this sinister
character called Leather Apron,
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and they're convinced
this is the man responsible.
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[Adam] Leather Apron was a man
named John Pizer who lived in Whitechapel.
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He was a cobbler. For his work,
he naturally wore a leather apron.
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So when they found the leather apron,
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they dragged him off
down to the police station
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where they gave him a good interrogation.
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[Richard] Now, it turns out
the leather apron they found
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has got nothing to do with the murder.
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It was just a local resident
had cleaned his leather apron
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and laid it over the, uh, fence
to dry off.
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Pizer had cast-iron alibis
for the nights of the murders,
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so he was then released as a suspect.
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And it turns out he's only the first
of an awful lot of suspects in the case.
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At this point, the police recognized
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that there was, um,
something highly amiss in Whitechapel.
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{\an8}Two dreadful murders,
terrible mutilations,
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most likely killed by the same hand.
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[man 1] What was frightening was
that there was somebody out there
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who wanted to kill you,
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and you'd never met them,
you'd never done them any harm.
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{\an8}They weren't killing you for a reason.
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[Richard] Horror starts to set in
about these murders.
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People thought,
"What sort of monster would do this?"
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[unsettling music plays]
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There is a sense the killer
knew his way around Whitechapel.
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Whitechapel, at the time,
was made up of lots of narrow alleyways,
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twisty little passageways
that went between buildings.
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All he needs to know
is where the nearest bolt-hole is
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that he can get down quickly
and escape from the scene of the crime.
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00:12:13,399 --> 00:12:15,276
And then when he's made Whitechapel Road,
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the busy main road
that goes through the heart of the area,
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00:12:17,737 --> 00:12:20,448
or Commercial Street,
the busy thoroughfares,
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then he can just make his way
and lose himself in the crowds.
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00:12:30,624 --> 00:12:34,044
[Adam] The police, very early on,
took a decision not to speak to the press
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about the activities they were undertaking
or their lines of investigation.
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And, naturally, the press were looking
for sensational stories
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and became frustrated
that there weren't any leads to act on
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{\an8}except the suspect Leather Apron.
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[Lindsay] Then, on 27th September, 1888,
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the Central News Agency received
a very interesting letter.
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00:12:56,650 --> 00:12:57,902
Written in red ink,
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00:12:57,985 --> 00:13:02,656
{\an8}it starts, "Dear Boss, I keep on hearing
the police have caught me."
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00:13:02,740 --> 00:13:04,575
{\an8}"They won't catch me just yet."
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00:13:05,075 --> 00:13:07,912
[Richard] Then it goes on to boast
in mocking terms about what he's done.
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00:13:07,995 --> 00:13:09,371
The police can't catch him.
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00:13:10,664 --> 00:13:14,627
[Lindsay] And at the end, it's signed,
"Yours truly, Jack the Ripper."
231
00:13:14,710 --> 00:13:16,712
[sinister music plays]
232
00:13:18,297 --> 00:13:23,093
{\an8}"Dear Boss" letter's prob-probably
the most important document that we have
233
00:13:23,177 --> 00:13:26,388
{\an8}because it's the one
that gives us the name "Jack the Ripper."
234
00:13:26,472 --> 00:13:29,475
It summarized what the chap
was doing to the ladies.
235
00:13:29,558 --> 00:13:30,893
They were being ripped open.
236
00:13:30,976 --> 00:13:33,854
That type of horror in a nickname,
237
00:13:34,730 --> 00:13:37,149
Jack the Ripper, it's a newsman's dream!
238
00:13:37,733 --> 00:13:41,111
[Paul] The murderer's now got a name,
so he's no longer a nebulous figure.
239
00:13:41,195 --> 00:13:44,031
He has that name, Jack the Ripper.
240
00:13:45,950 --> 00:13:48,953
[Richard] The problem is the majority
of police officers believe this letter
241
00:13:49,036 --> 00:13:51,288
was the work
of an enterprising London journalist
242
00:13:51,372 --> 00:13:53,123
known to senior Scotland Yard detectives.
243
00:13:53,207 --> 00:13:57,336
So in other words, a journalist wrote
the letter. It was a journalistic hoax.
244
00:13:57,419 --> 00:14:00,631
[Lindsay] Many people at the time,
including relevant police authorities,
245
00:14:00,714 --> 00:14:04,593
did believe they actually knew
the identity of the person who did do it
246
00:14:04,677 --> 00:14:08,264
and that that was a, uh, person
from the Central News Agency itself
247
00:14:08,347 --> 00:14:11,767
trying to generate, um, you know,
excitement for the press.
248
00:14:11,851 --> 00:14:14,520
{\an8}So I personally don't think
the "Dear Boss" letter
249
00:14:14,603 --> 00:14:16,188
{\an8}was written by Jack the Ripper.
250
00:14:16,939 --> 00:14:21,318
{\an8}When they got the Ripper letter, there
doesn't appear to be one solid suspect
251
00:14:21,402 --> 00:14:24,697
or lines of inquiry that the police
were following at that time.
252
00:14:24,780 --> 00:14:28,701
Police were desperate for a breakthrough,
so they decided to make the letter public.
253
00:14:29,577 --> 00:14:31,579
And it was reproduced
and put up on posters,
254
00:14:31,662 --> 00:14:33,998
but also, it was put
in the newspapers as well.
255
00:14:35,124 --> 00:14:37,042
Releasing it proved to be a mistake,
256
00:14:37,126 --> 00:14:40,254
because that name
was so chillingly accurate,
257
00:14:40,337 --> 00:14:42,840
Jack the Ripper, it caught on.
258
00:14:42,923 --> 00:14:46,135
And hoaxers across the land
began reaching for their pens.
259
00:14:46,218 --> 00:14:50,139
And throughout October, the police
were inundated with a barrage of letters,
260
00:14:50,222 --> 00:14:52,057
many signed "Jack the Ripper."
261
00:14:52,141 --> 00:14:56,186
And it became almost a national pastime,
writing letters signed "Jack the Ripper."
262
00:14:56,770 --> 00:14:59,440
Every letter had to be read, assessed,
263
00:14:59,523 --> 00:15:02,318
and, if ever possible,
followed up and the author traced,
264
00:15:02,401 --> 00:15:05,321
so consequently,
the already overstretched detectives
265
00:15:05,404 --> 00:15:07,489
are stretched almost to breaking point.
266
00:15:07,573 --> 00:15:09,325
[unsettling music plays]
267
00:15:09,408 --> 00:15:11,285
Then on 30th September,
268
00:15:11,368 --> 00:15:14,663
within days of the police
receiving the "Dear Boss" letter,
269
00:15:14,747 --> 00:15:19,251
the murderer struck again and carries out
two murders in less than an hour.
270
00:15:19,335 --> 00:15:22,671
That night is what we… we now call
the "Double Event Night."
271
00:15:26,050 --> 00:15:28,928
[Adam] On this spot,
um, one o'clock in the morning,
272
00:15:29,011 --> 00:15:31,722
{\an8}Louis Diemschutz pulled his horse
and cart into the yard
273
00:15:31,805 --> 00:15:33,349
{\an8}immediately behind where I am now.
274
00:15:33,432 --> 00:15:34,725
{\an8}[horse neighs]
275
00:15:34,808 --> 00:15:36,477
{\an8}[Adam] And he saw the body of a woman.
276
00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:39,605
{\an8}It was Elizabeth Stride,
the third victim of Jack the Ripper.
277
00:15:42,858 --> 00:15:44,777
{\an8}[Lindsay] Elizabeth was Swedish.
278
00:15:44,860 --> 00:15:48,530
{\an8}She worked as a nanny for a while
to some children, and as a cleaner,
279
00:15:48,614 --> 00:15:51,075
and then, sadly,
she got into prostitution.
280
00:15:52,826 --> 00:15:55,287
[Adam] She'd come to England
when she was in her early twenties,
281
00:15:55,371 --> 00:15:57,164
and she found herself, first in…
282
00:15:57,247 --> 00:16:01,418
around the Brick Lane area,
in the common lodging houses around there.
283
00:16:01,502 --> 00:16:03,462
And, by the end of September,
284
00:16:03,545 --> 00:16:05,965
she had earned herself a… a few shillings
285
00:16:06,048 --> 00:16:08,008
by cleaning the lodging house
she was staying in.
286
00:16:08,092 --> 00:16:11,929
She decided to go out for the night
and spend what money she had made.
287
00:16:12,012 --> 00:16:13,597
[ominous music plays]
288
00:16:16,392 --> 00:16:19,478
{\an8}When the body was found,
she had a scarf around her neck,
289
00:16:19,561 --> 00:16:23,857
which had been twisted to one side,
and the knot pulled very, very tightly,
290
00:16:23,941 --> 00:16:25,693
and there was a large, jagged cut,
291
00:16:25,776 --> 00:16:28,570
which almost ran
to the level of that scarf,
292
00:16:28,654 --> 00:16:32,408
as though it'd been used
almost as a guide by the killer.
293
00:16:32,491 --> 00:16:35,285
There was a river of blood
running from the throat
294
00:16:35,369 --> 00:16:38,080
down into the gutter
in the opposite corner.
295
00:16:38,163 --> 00:16:41,792
Unlike our other victims,
she's only had her throat cut.
296
00:16:42,835 --> 00:16:44,712
No mutilations.
297
00:16:45,838 --> 00:16:49,466
Some people do believe that the reason
why Jack only cut Elizabeth's throat
298
00:16:49,550 --> 00:16:53,262
was because he was disturbed by
that pony and cart coming into the yard.
299
00:16:53,846 --> 00:16:56,557
Because he's been denied
the satisfaction of the mutilation,
300
00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,143
the killer goes looking
for another victim.
301
00:16:59,226 --> 00:17:01,228
[ominous music continues]
302
00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:05,649
Forty-five minutes later,
in the City of London,
303
00:17:05,733 --> 00:17:08,652
the body of Catherine Eddowes
is found in Mitre Square.
304
00:17:08,736 --> 00:17:10,738
{\an8}[unsettling music continues]
305
00:17:13,991 --> 00:17:14,950
{\an8}[music fades]
306
00:17:15,034 --> 00:17:17,036
Where I'm standing here
307
00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,039
{\an8}was roughly where
Catherine Eddowes' body was found
308
00:17:20,122 --> 00:17:21,957
{\an8}on the night of the Double Event.
309
00:17:22,875 --> 00:17:24,918
Catherine was born in Wolverhampton.
310
00:17:25,002 --> 00:17:26,920
Eventually, her two parents die,
311
00:17:27,004 --> 00:17:29,673
and she was placed into orphanages.
312
00:17:29,757 --> 00:17:31,759
And she moves, eventually, to London
313
00:17:31,842 --> 00:17:34,303
where she was known
as a sex worker at the time,
314
00:17:34,386 --> 00:17:36,388
but maybe on a casual basis.
315
00:17:36,472 --> 00:17:39,600
She was found around 1:45 in the morning
316
00:17:39,683 --> 00:17:42,102
by, uh, the policeman, PC Watkins,
317
00:17:42,186 --> 00:17:44,646
who was coming around the back,
around Mitre Street.
318
00:17:44,730 --> 00:17:46,440
He comes into the square.
319
00:17:46,523 --> 00:17:48,025
He search… He's on his patrol.
320
00:17:49,109 --> 00:17:51,445
{\an8}He shines the lantern,
and he gets such a shock
321
00:17:51,528 --> 00:17:52,780
{\an8}when he sees the body here.
322
00:17:52,863 --> 00:17:54,782
{\an8}She wasn't there 15 minutes earlier.
323
00:17:57,076 --> 00:18:01,705
{\an8}She was the most horribly mutilated
of any victim up till that point.
324
00:18:01,789 --> 00:18:03,165
This is another step up.
325
00:18:03,248 --> 00:18:05,626
The throat's been cut.
She's been cut open.
326
00:18:05,709 --> 00:18:08,462
V's have been cut into her cheeks,
V's into her eyelids,
327
00:18:08,545 --> 00:18:11,465
part of the earlobe's been taken off,
tip of the nose.
328
00:18:12,508 --> 00:18:15,761
Also, the killer's cut out and gone off
with the uterus and the left kidney.
329
00:18:17,554 --> 00:18:19,765
[Lindsay] You only had one resident
on the square.
330
00:18:19,848 --> 00:18:23,185
That was a policeman, Richard Pearce,
with his family, just sleeping there.
331
00:18:23,268 --> 00:18:24,978
Policeman hears nothing,
332
00:18:25,062 --> 00:18:28,565
and, amazingly, the night watchman
hears and sees nothing.
333
00:18:28,649 --> 00:18:31,193
It's like a ghost kills her here.
334
00:18:34,196 --> 00:18:37,741
{\an8}[Adam] When Catherine was taken to the
City of London mortuary and undressed,
335
00:18:37,825 --> 00:18:40,953
{\an8}they noticed that the apron
she'd been wearing
336
00:18:41,036 --> 00:18:43,831
was covered with blood,
uh, understandably,
337
00:18:43,914 --> 00:18:46,542
but a portion of it was missing,
as though it had been cut off.
338
00:18:47,709 --> 00:18:49,878
[Lindsay] After Catherine Eddowes' body
was found,
339
00:18:49,962 --> 00:18:52,756
a policeman was walking down
Goulston Street.
340
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:57,177
He's shining his lantern into doorways,
making sure there's nobody hiding,
341
00:18:57,261 --> 00:18:58,887
trying to find any weapons,
342
00:18:58,971 --> 00:19:03,976
and sees blood in the entrance
to the model dwellings on Goulston Street.
343
00:19:04,059 --> 00:19:06,937
And in the blood,
he sees a piece of material.
344
00:19:07,020 --> 00:19:10,566
It's actually a section
of Catherine Eddowes' apron
345
00:19:10,649 --> 00:19:12,985
cut off from her body in Mitre Square.
346
00:19:14,027 --> 00:19:17,698
Some people believe the reason why
the actual apron was dropped there
347
00:19:17,781 --> 00:19:21,535
was because the murderer
had wiped his hands and knife.
348
00:19:21,618 --> 00:19:24,663
But why that specific doorway,
nobody knows.
349
00:19:25,831 --> 00:19:27,958
[Adam] The thing about the blood
on the apron piece,
350
00:19:28,041 --> 00:19:31,003
it could have been Catherine's, obviously,
from the horrific wounds.
351
00:19:31,086 --> 00:19:34,047
It could have been
the killer's inadvertently cut himself
352
00:19:34,131 --> 00:19:35,549
while carrying out the mutilations.
353
00:19:36,717 --> 00:19:39,553
{\an8}Unfortunately,
there was no blood types at that time,
354
00:19:40,429 --> 00:19:41,847
{\an8}so it was totally useless.
355
00:19:44,141 --> 00:19:47,311
One of the things many Jack the Ripper
letters had been threatening
356
00:19:47,394 --> 00:19:49,188
was they would send a body part
to the police.
357
00:19:49,271 --> 00:19:51,273
[uneasy music plays]
358
00:19:52,816 --> 00:19:55,277
[Lindsay] Two weeks
after the Double Event,
359
00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:57,529
when Elizabeth and Catherine are killed,
360
00:19:57,613 --> 00:20:00,782
a local man called George Lusk
receives a letter.
361
00:20:01,408 --> 00:20:04,328
[Richard] He sat down to his dinner table
on 16th October,
362
00:20:04,411 --> 00:20:06,830
and a small package was delivered
in the evening mail,
363
00:20:06,914 --> 00:20:10,584
and he opened it,
and inside was the letter "from hell."
364
00:20:11,418 --> 00:20:15,255
And with the letter
was half a human kidney.
365
00:20:17,216 --> 00:20:18,592
[Richard] George Lusk was the head
366
00:20:18,675 --> 00:20:21,970
of the Whitechapel Mile End
Vigilance Committee.
367
00:20:22,054 --> 00:20:24,932
Basically, they would go out at night
and they'd patrol the streets,
368
00:20:25,015 --> 00:20:27,851
and they'd keep suspicious characters
under surveillance.
369
00:20:28,769 --> 00:20:31,897
So the letter
that arrived at Mr. Lusk's house said,
370
00:20:31,980 --> 00:20:33,690
"Mr. Lusk, sir,
371
00:20:33,774 --> 00:20:37,277
I send you half the kidney
I took from one woman."
372
00:20:37,361 --> 00:20:39,112
"Preserved it for you."
373
00:20:39,196 --> 00:20:42,950
"T'other piece I fried and ate.
It was very nice."
374
00:20:43,033 --> 00:20:45,911
"I may send you the bloody knife
that took it out,
375
00:20:45,994 --> 00:20:48,163
if you only wait a while longer."
376
00:20:48,247 --> 00:20:51,416
"Signed, Catch me when you can, Mr. Lusk."
377
00:20:53,669 --> 00:20:55,545
He's obviously saying he's a cannibal
378
00:20:56,338 --> 00:20:59,758
and that he's actually eaten
a section of the victim's kidney.
379
00:21:00,467 --> 00:21:01,385
Horrible.
380
00:21:03,220 --> 00:21:06,556
With the Lusk letter,
there was a debate within the police
381
00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,851
as to whether that was
actually Catherine's kidney.
382
00:21:09,935 --> 00:21:13,105
Certainly, the medical opinions
at the time differed.
383
00:21:13,855 --> 00:21:15,399
It was the correct kidney, though.
384
00:21:15,482 --> 00:21:19,236
It was the left kidney, and Catherine
did have her left kidney taken away.
385
00:21:20,237 --> 00:21:22,572
If that was Catherine's kidney,
386
00:21:22,656 --> 00:21:26,285
then that means that letter is genuine,
and there's a 50/50 chance.
387
00:21:26,368 --> 00:21:29,121
So I, personally,
have always believed in that letter
388
00:21:29,204 --> 00:21:32,499
and believed that the Lusk letter
was genuine, but others disagree.
389
00:21:32,582 --> 00:21:35,210
There are those who say
that it's the only genuine letter
390
00:21:35,294 --> 00:21:36,586
that came from the murderer.
391
00:21:36,670 --> 00:21:38,255
Personally, I don't believe it was.
392
00:21:38,338 --> 00:21:41,341
I think it was probably
the joke of a medical student.
393
00:21:41,425 --> 00:21:45,262
Uh, it was quite common for medical
students to get hold of body parts.
394
00:21:46,013 --> 00:21:49,683
The point is that everybody got hooked
on this Jack the Ripper scare.
395
00:21:49,766 --> 00:21:52,561
It's… it's become
almost, uh, an obsession.
396
00:21:52,644 --> 00:21:55,439
People are just, "I need to get involved.
I want to get involved."
397
00:21:59,860 --> 00:22:02,029
[Adam] In the October of 1888,
398
00:22:02,821 --> 00:22:05,198
the police had organized
a house-to-house search
399
00:22:05,282 --> 00:22:06,825
in the whole of Whitechapel.
400
00:22:06,908 --> 00:22:09,411
There were several hundred
houses, uh, searched.
401
00:22:09,494 --> 00:22:12,539
A thousand people were investigated.
402
00:22:12,622 --> 00:22:17,002
But they really didn't have, uh,
much of a lead to go on at all, really.
403
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:23,550
It's important to remember, in 1888,
the police were really limited
404
00:22:23,633 --> 00:22:26,511
with the amount of, uh,
investigatory tools that they had.
405
00:22:27,596 --> 00:22:29,723
[Paul] They didn't have simple things
like fingerprints,
406
00:22:29,806 --> 00:22:32,476
and they certainly didn't have CCTV,
407
00:22:32,559 --> 00:22:36,897
which would have enabled them
to… to keep an eye on different areas.
408
00:22:38,565 --> 00:22:41,193
[Richard] Basically,
the police investigation depended on
409
00:22:41,276 --> 00:22:42,277
a search of the area.
410
00:22:42,361 --> 00:22:45,364
Is there perhaps a footprint there
that they can use?
411
00:22:45,447 --> 00:22:50,118
But none of the traditional methods
of detecting a crime are working.
412
00:22:51,745 --> 00:22:54,873
We do have witnesses who say,
"Oh, I saw this. I saw that."
413
00:22:54,956 --> 00:22:58,085
But we don't know
whether they did see the killer or not.
414
00:22:59,044 --> 00:23:02,297
A lot of those who saw him talked about
him being about 5 ft. 6 in., 5 ft. 7 in.,
415
00:23:02,381 --> 00:23:06,218
but, then again, that was probably
an average height for a man at the time.
416
00:23:07,803 --> 00:23:11,598
Um, different ages from twenties
to forties, different clothing.
417
00:23:12,307 --> 00:23:15,477
[Adam] The problem with
eyewitness identification at that time
418
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:17,145
is the lighting was extremely poor.
419
00:23:17,229 --> 00:23:20,690
It's like 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning,
and it's dark. We've got limited lighting.
420
00:23:20,774 --> 00:23:22,317
How well do we notice things?
421
00:23:22,401 --> 00:23:26,321
Often, witnesses can be quite wrong
accidentally in their descriptions.
422
00:23:27,364 --> 00:23:31,410
[Adam] So, unfortunately, no one knew
what Jack the Ripper looked like.
423
00:23:33,036 --> 00:23:35,247
[uneasy music plays]
424
00:23:35,330 --> 00:23:38,125
[Richard] At this point, the police
are going through the East End,
425
00:23:38,208 --> 00:23:39,584
searching for the murderer.
426
00:23:41,044 --> 00:23:42,671
You've also got an interesting situation
427
00:23:42,754 --> 00:23:44,840
where you've got lots of people
out in disguise
428
00:23:44,923 --> 00:23:46,383
to try and catch the Ripper.
429
00:23:47,008 --> 00:23:49,261
We know of three medical students
being used as decoys
430
00:23:49,344 --> 00:23:51,471
to try and lure the murderer out.
431
00:23:52,305 --> 00:23:55,767
[Paul] Men who dressed up as women,
wandering around the East End
432
00:23:55,851 --> 00:23:58,103
in the hope of being attacked
by Jack the Ripper
433
00:23:58,186 --> 00:23:59,938
so that they could catch him.
434
00:24:00,647 --> 00:24:02,983
The women started to arm themselves.
435
00:24:03,066 --> 00:24:07,696
{\an8}So we have pictures of them
holding knives, guns, scissors,
436
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:10,907
knowing that, you know,
they have to go out on the streets.
437
00:24:10,991 --> 00:24:14,077
They have nowhere else to go. They have
to get their four pennies for a bed.
438
00:24:14,661 --> 00:24:16,204
But what an awful situation to be in,
439
00:24:16,288 --> 00:24:19,708
to think that your next customer
could be your last.
440
00:24:22,878 --> 00:24:24,880
[unsettling music plays]
441
00:24:26,089 --> 00:24:28,758
[Richard] The whole of October
went by without any murders,
442
00:24:29,468 --> 00:24:33,180
largely because the police presence
in the area has really been stepped up.
443
00:24:33,805 --> 00:24:38,226
So nothing happened until the next murder
on 9th November.
444
00:24:38,852 --> 00:24:41,438
And it is the worst in the series by far.
445
00:24:41,521 --> 00:24:43,899
[unsettling music plays]
446
00:24:46,193 --> 00:24:48,570
Mary Jane Kelly was in her mid-twenties,
447
00:24:48,653 --> 00:24:50,780
so she's the youngest
of all of our ladies.
448
00:24:52,365 --> 00:24:54,284
And, like the other victims,
449
00:24:54,367 --> 00:24:58,955
she needed to get money,
so she worked as a lady of the night.
450
00:25:00,165 --> 00:25:02,959
She has a room of her own in Whitechapel.
451
00:25:05,295 --> 00:25:10,717
A man called Thomas Bowyer goes around
to collect rent from Mary Jane Kelly.
452
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:13,303
- He knocks on the door. Nothing.
- [knocking]
453
00:25:13,386 --> 00:25:15,931
[Lindsay] So he goes around
to a side broken window.
454
00:25:16,014 --> 00:25:19,893
He moves the curtain. [gasps]
And sees this horrific sight.
455
00:25:19,976 --> 00:25:21,603
Absolutely shocking.
456
00:25:23,438 --> 00:25:25,565
[Adam] Having the opportunity
in that locked room,
457
00:25:25,649 --> 00:25:28,026
the killer could do whatever he wanted.
458
00:25:28,860 --> 00:25:31,154
Mary Kelly's body
was completely eviscerated.
459
00:25:31,238 --> 00:25:34,533
Her face was completely cut off,
breasts removed,
460
00:25:34,616 --> 00:25:37,786
laying on the bed,
entrails all… all around the place.
461
00:25:39,704 --> 00:25:40,914
[Lindsay] She's killed indoors.
462
00:25:40,997 --> 00:25:45,085
{\an8}She's the only murder to have been
actually, uh, sort of happening indoors.
463
00:25:46,545 --> 00:25:48,922
{\an8}[Richard] The police took a photograph
of the body on the bed.
464
00:25:49,005 --> 00:25:51,216
It's one of the earliest
crime scene photographs we have.
465
00:25:52,050 --> 00:25:55,887
You… you can't even think
it's a human being. It was horrendous.
466
00:25:57,222 --> 00:25:59,849
[Lindsay] He'd cut off
three flaps of flesh,
467
00:25:59,933 --> 00:26:01,893
put that on the bedside table.
468
00:26:01,977 --> 00:26:06,565
He'd cut off and extracted
several sections of her abdominal area,
469
00:26:06,648 --> 00:26:08,316
placed them around her body.
470
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:12,404
And if that's not enough,
he slices the flesh off from her thigh,
471
00:26:13,697 --> 00:26:15,282
her thigh bone is exposed,
472
00:26:16,408 --> 00:26:18,868
and then he cuts out her heart.
473
00:26:19,995 --> 00:26:23,331
But sadly, Mary Jane Kelly's heart
was never found.
474
00:26:27,210 --> 00:26:31,256
{\an8}[Richard] The divisional police surgeon
to Scotland Yard, Dr. Thomas Bond,
475
00:26:31,339 --> 00:26:34,676
{\an8}he performed a postmortem on Mary Kelly
as she lay in her room.
476
00:26:36,177 --> 00:26:39,097
[Adam] They said
that it looked as though Mary
477
00:26:39,180 --> 00:26:42,017
potentially had been asleep
when she was attacked.
478
00:26:42,601 --> 00:26:47,105
{\an8}[Richard] Sir Robert Anderson, Assistant
Commissioner of Scotland Yard at the time,
479
00:26:47,188 --> 00:26:51,443
{\an8}sought the opinion of Dr. Thomas Bond
on the five murders.
480
00:26:51,526 --> 00:26:53,778
{\an8}Anderson sent him the inquest reports
481
00:26:53,862 --> 00:26:56,698
on the deaths of Mary Nichols,
Annie Chapman,
482
00:26:56,781 --> 00:26:59,159
Elizabeth Stride, and Catherine Eddowes.
483
00:26:59,242 --> 00:27:02,454
[Adam] Dr. Bond was known to have…
have been consulted
484
00:27:02,537 --> 00:27:06,291
on some of the most notorious cases
of the 1870s and 1880s
485
00:27:06,374 --> 00:27:08,418
across the country, not just London.
486
00:27:08,501 --> 00:27:11,963
After years of working for Scotland Yard,
487
00:27:13,048 --> 00:27:16,217
he became interested
in the psyche of a killer.
488
00:27:16,301 --> 00:27:19,846
He was trying to get an understanding
of how a murder was committed,
489
00:27:19,929 --> 00:27:22,724
rather than just the… the physical,
medical side of things.
490
00:27:24,392 --> 00:27:26,186
Dr. Thomas Bond produced
491
00:27:26,269 --> 00:27:29,105
what is probably the first attempt
at profiling a serial killer.
492
00:27:29,981 --> 00:27:35,070
And on 10th November,
he submitted a report to Scotland Yard,
493
00:27:35,153 --> 00:27:39,908
which really shaped a lot of the way
that we think about the… the Ripper today.
494
00:27:41,368 --> 00:27:44,120
[Richard] Bond talks about
the similarities between the murders.
495
00:27:44,621 --> 00:27:48,041
He says that… that it would have been
a surprise attack,
496
00:27:48,124 --> 00:27:50,043
that they wouldn't have been expecting it.
497
00:27:50,126 --> 00:27:52,712
The evidence does suggest
he was able, for some reason,
498
00:27:52,796 --> 00:27:57,342
to overpower his victims very quickly
and render them unconscious.
499
00:27:59,719 --> 00:28:02,972
[Adam] The idea that the victims
were killed while they were laying down
500
00:28:03,056 --> 00:28:05,892
is a conclusion drawn up
by Dr. Bond in his report.
501
00:28:05,975 --> 00:28:08,895
It certainly gives a lot of credence
because there were thumb marks
502
00:28:08,978 --> 00:28:11,648
and finger marks
found on the necks of the victims,
503
00:28:11,731 --> 00:28:15,819
which indicate they were strangled,
certainly into insensibility,
504
00:28:15,902 --> 00:28:18,947
lowered to the ground,
and then had their throat cut.
505
00:28:21,324 --> 00:28:23,910
And then the mutilations
were carried out after death.
506
00:28:27,205 --> 00:28:29,207
[uneasy music plays]
507
00:28:30,959 --> 00:28:33,169
[Adam] Certainly in the 1880s,
508
00:28:33,253 --> 00:28:37,090
the idea of a serial killer
as we know it today simply didn't exist.
509
00:28:37,966 --> 00:28:40,677
[Paul] It wasn't until the 1970s
510
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:45,974
that the term "serial killer"
became invented, as it were.
511
00:28:46,057 --> 00:28:51,271
But in 1888, the general public
simply didn't believe
512
00:28:51,354 --> 00:28:54,691
that there were people out there
who were killing without
513
00:28:54,774 --> 00:28:57,068
what they perceived of as a… as a motive.
514
00:28:57,736 --> 00:29:03,908
So the press and the public came up
with suspects like the deranged doctor,
515
00:29:04,868 --> 00:29:06,286
a midwife,
516
00:29:07,036 --> 00:29:08,079
a butcher,
517
00:29:08,955 --> 00:29:13,460
because they had various skills
that Jack the Ripper had.
518
00:29:14,586 --> 00:29:16,671
{\an8}A butcher would have anatomical knowledge,
519
00:29:16,755 --> 00:29:19,007
{\an8}but not necessarily surgical skill.
520
00:29:19,549 --> 00:29:21,426
{\an8}A doctor would have both, of course.
521
00:29:22,969 --> 00:29:27,557
But the doctors at the time
were divided in their opinions
522
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:33,062
about whether or not the killer had
surgical skill and anatomical knowledge.
523
00:29:33,146 --> 00:29:37,484
He certainly would appear to have known
524
00:29:37,567 --> 00:29:40,278
where things were in… in the human body
525
00:29:40,361 --> 00:29:43,156
to be able to extract various things.
526
00:29:44,908 --> 00:29:47,786
He would have been operating,
uh, in some cases,
527
00:29:47,869 --> 00:29:50,997
in near to complete darkness.
528
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:57,712
I think he's got to have had
a degree of knowledge and skill
529
00:29:57,796 --> 00:29:59,297
to have been able to do that.
530
00:29:59,881 --> 00:30:01,883
[uneasy music plays]
531
00:30:02,759 --> 00:30:06,721
We know the murders
weren't committed for robbery.
532
00:30:06,805 --> 00:30:08,389
They weren't committed for revenge.
533
00:30:08,473 --> 00:30:10,099
Not for any financial gain,
534
00:30:10,183 --> 00:30:12,185
not for jealousy,
not because they're drunk.
535
00:30:12,268 --> 00:30:17,273
It's been done purely for the satisfaction
of carrying out those mutilations.
536
00:30:18,942 --> 00:30:22,362
{\an8}[Adam] The mutilations became more
and more intense as the series progressed,
537
00:30:22,445 --> 00:30:25,698
{\an8}because that lower level of mutilations
wasn't enough
538
00:30:25,782 --> 00:30:28,409
{\an8}for him to get the thrill
that he was seeking.
539
00:30:29,202 --> 00:30:31,996
They were committed
purely for a sexual thrill.
540
00:30:34,499 --> 00:30:39,045
That motive, or… or that sort
of mental outlook on… on a perpetrator
541
00:30:39,128 --> 00:30:40,922
hadn't been looked at all before.
542
00:30:43,591 --> 00:30:46,302
In his report, Bond also gave his opinion
543
00:30:46,386 --> 00:30:49,472
as to what the killer was like
in terms of character.
544
00:30:50,306 --> 00:30:54,853
He was a… a quiet, well-respected man,
probably dressed respectably.
545
00:30:54,936 --> 00:30:57,188
He talks about
his living arrangements as well.
546
00:30:57,272 --> 00:30:59,816
That he… he probably had a room he could…
547
00:30:59,899 --> 00:31:02,944
at least a room he could retire to,
where he could clean himself up.
548
00:31:03,528 --> 00:31:04,946
He talks about even his income,
549
00:31:05,029 --> 00:31:08,283
that he's either got a private pension
or a private income.
550
00:31:08,366 --> 00:31:10,493
He talks about
that he's living with his family.
551
00:31:10,577 --> 00:31:12,287
His family might be shielding him.
552
00:31:13,580 --> 00:31:17,417
[Lindsay] Many people back then thought
Jack the Ripper was possibly a lunatic
553
00:31:17,500 --> 00:31:19,711
and therefore may have been
walking around the streets
554
00:31:19,794 --> 00:31:23,423
sort of frothing from the mouth
and looking clearly very evil-looking
555
00:31:23,506 --> 00:31:24,549
and not very well.
556
00:31:24,632 --> 00:31:27,135
Clearly, the ladies of the night
are clever,
557
00:31:27,218 --> 00:31:29,596
and they're not gonna approach
anybody like that.
558
00:31:33,683 --> 00:31:37,729
I think the idea of Jack the Ripper
as an unknown assailant,
559
00:31:37,812 --> 00:31:41,232
walking around deserted streets
in the early hours with a top hat,
560
00:31:41,316 --> 00:31:42,609
carrying his black bag,
561
00:31:42,692 --> 00:31:45,737
is an image which has… has stayed with us
for over a hundred years.
562
00:31:47,572 --> 00:31:49,741
{\an8}When you look at the early silent movies
563
00:31:49,824 --> 00:31:52,911
{\an8}where there was a lady
being tied to a railway track, in danger,
564
00:31:52,994 --> 00:31:56,372
{\an8}the villain who did that
always had a top hat, black cloak,
565
00:31:56,456 --> 00:31:57,790
usually a nice, big mustache.
566
00:31:57,874 --> 00:32:01,002
Exactly the image
that you think of Jack the Ripper today.
567
00:32:01,085 --> 00:32:05,173
And he really fits nicely into that
real perpetrator of terrible deeds.
568
00:32:10,178 --> 00:32:12,347
[Paul] The black bag part
569
00:32:12,430 --> 00:32:17,810
comes from a man who was seen
close to the murder of Elizabeth Stride.
570
00:32:18,770 --> 00:32:20,897
And he was carrying a black bag,
571
00:32:20,980 --> 00:32:24,484
but, in fact, he'd been doing business
somewhere and was just on his way home,
572
00:32:24,567 --> 00:32:27,278
and he had a cast-iron alibi
and had nothing to do with it,
573
00:32:27,362 --> 00:32:29,072
but the black bag stuck.
574
00:32:29,155 --> 00:32:30,907
[uneasy music plays]
575
00:32:30,990 --> 00:32:33,826
[Paul] Jack the Ripper with the top hat
and carrying the Gladstone bag
576
00:32:33,910 --> 00:32:35,453
and wearing a cape,
577
00:32:36,371 --> 00:32:38,957
I think would have probably
stood out like a sore thumb
578
00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:41,542
in the East End of London
at… [chuckles] …at that time.
579
00:32:42,126 --> 00:32:45,338
The real Jack the Ripper must have
been able to just walk the streets
580
00:32:45,421 --> 00:32:47,966
without being particularly noticed
by anybody.
581
00:32:50,468 --> 00:32:53,554
[Richard] And there were lots of
slaughterhouses in the area at the time,
582
00:32:53,638 --> 00:32:57,350
and it was quite common to see people
in bloodstained clothing
583
00:32:57,433 --> 00:33:00,103
walking around the area
in the early hours of the morning.
584
00:33:03,189 --> 00:33:06,734
Just after Mary Kelly's murder,
something unusual happens.
585
00:33:06,818 --> 00:33:11,030
[Adam] A bunch of time passed by
and the murders stop.
586
00:33:13,157 --> 00:33:15,535
So why would the killer stop?
587
00:33:18,204 --> 00:33:22,917
Had he satisfied his bloodlust
through the horrific mutilations of Mary?
588
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,797
If the murders have ended, something's
happened to the murderer. Has he died?
589
00:33:28,423 --> 00:33:31,134
[Lindsay] He may have left the country,
may have gone on holiday,
590
00:33:31,217 --> 00:33:32,969
may have been locked up for another crime.
591
00:33:33,052 --> 00:33:37,015
Some people have… have conjectured
that maybe he was in quite ill health.
592
00:33:38,683 --> 00:33:41,853
And then some people thought
he may be a sailor.
593
00:33:42,812 --> 00:33:46,399
Commit the murder, and then disappear
again on the boat going out again.
594
00:33:47,483 --> 00:33:51,404
It's almost a perfect way
of… of committing a murder.
595
00:33:52,405 --> 00:33:54,866
[Richard] And then, of course,
there is the asylum theory.
596
00:33:55,366 --> 00:33:59,245
The murders ended
because the killer went into an asylum.
597
00:34:03,791 --> 00:34:08,337
Very early on in the investigation,
the police had an awful lot of suspects.
598
00:34:08,421 --> 00:34:13,593
You've got people being pulled in, uh,
by the police on almost a conveyor belt.
599
00:34:14,761 --> 00:34:17,513
{\an8}[Adam] Every person
that was potentially sighted,
600
00:34:17,597 --> 00:34:19,098
uh, acting in a suspicious manner,
601
00:34:19,182 --> 00:34:22,518
or looked like someone
that had been seen by a witness,
602
00:34:22,602 --> 00:34:24,228
they had to follow up their story.
603
00:34:26,105 --> 00:34:27,690
And over the years,
604
00:34:27,774 --> 00:34:30,401
there's obviously a lot of people,
for very good reasons,
605
00:34:30,485 --> 00:34:33,488
who've done their own research
and come up with their own suspects.
606
00:34:33,571 --> 00:34:36,824
And there are a handful of suspects
worth taking seriously.
607
00:34:37,950 --> 00:34:41,579
{\an8}[Lindsay] One suspect in the police files
is Montague John Druitt.
608
00:34:43,790 --> 00:34:46,334
[Richard] Druitt was a barrister
in South London.
609
00:34:47,418 --> 00:34:48,628
He was also a teacher as well.
610
00:34:51,714 --> 00:34:54,175
Around about November 1888,
he was dismissed.
611
00:34:57,637 --> 00:35:02,433
[Adam] His body was found floating
in the Thames on the last day of 1888.
612
00:35:04,352 --> 00:35:05,728
[Richard] When the murders stopped,
613
00:35:05,812 --> 00:35:08,648
one of the things the police thought
is he's committed suicide.
614
00:35:08,731 --> 00:35:11,818
So they're looking
at all the suicides that take place
615
00:35:11,901 --> 00:35:13,486
just after Mary Kelly's murder.
616
00:35:14,362 --> 00:35:17,615
One suicide that comes forward
is that of Montague John Druitt.
617
00:35:18,991 --> 00:35:20,535
According to the police reports,
618
00:35:20,618 --> 00:35:23,079
his own family
thought that he was the murderer.
619
00:35:24,330 --> 00:35:29,043
His brother testifies that, uh, he's…
he's been mentally unstable for a time.
620
00:35:29,127 --> 00:35:31,587
He's found a note saying
he felt he was going mad.
621
00:35:31,671 --> 00:35:33,047
It's better that he should die.
622
00:35:35,007 --> 00:35:39,512
But there's no firm evidence that points
to Druitt having visited Whitechapel,
623
00:35:39,595 --> 00:35:43,141
let alone being seen with any of the women
on the nights of their murders.
624
00:35:43,224 --> 00:35:47,979
It purely seems to come down to the fact
that he was found drowned in the Thames
625
00:35:48,062 --> 00:35:50,439
at the end of that year.
626
00:35:55,069 --> 00:35:56,612
[uneasy music plays]
627
00:35:56,696 --> 00:36:00,158
{\an8}[Richard] Dr. Francis Tumblety
is one of the most intriguing suspects.
628
00:36:01,117 --> 00:36:04,745
{\an8}He's the only one of the suspects
who was actually arrested for the murders
629
00:36:04,829 --> 00:36:06,497
{\an8}just before Mary Kelly's murder.
630
00:36:06,998 --> 00:36:09,709
He was an American, and he was given bail,
631
00:36:09,792 --> 00:36:12,712
and he skipped bail
and then went back to America.
632
00:36:13,296 --> 00:36:16,924
When he was in New York,
Tumblety started giving interviews saying,
633
00:36:17,008 --> 00:36:20,303
"Well, I was arrested
on… on suspicion of being the murderer."
634
00:36:21,179 --> 00:36:24,182
So Tumblety said,
"All I did was, I did what everybody did."
635
00:36:24,265 --> 00:36:27,602
"I was fascinated, so I went into the area
to look at the murders."
636
00:36:28,311 --> 00:36:30,771
{\an8}And somehow he got himself arrested
637
00:36:30,855 --> 00:36:33,858
on suspicion of having committed
the Jack the Ripper murders.
638
00:36:34,567 --> 00:36:37,695
But, of course, there's no evidence
to suggest he was the killer.
639
00:36:40,990 --> 00:36:43,784
[Adam] The last prime suspect
after Tumblety and Druitt
640
00:36:43,868 --> 00:36:45,870
was just given the name Kosminski.
641
00:36:47,955 --> 00:36:52,835
[Paul] The name Kosminski
appears to have come from police files.
642
00:36:53,461 --> 00:36:58,257
They described him as a Polish Jew
who was put into an asylum.
643
00:36:59,258 --> 00:37:01,135
We don't know who Kosminski was,
644
00:37:01,219 --> 00:37:05,973
but a search was done,
and it does appear to have been
645
00:37:06,057 --> 00:37:09,268
a fairly comprehensive search
of asylum records,
646
00:37:09,352 --> 00:37:10,895
looking for a Kosminski.
647
00:37:11,854 --> 00:37:17,109
And the only one that's been found
is a man called Aaron Kosminski.
648
00:37:18,236 --> 00:37:20,947
[Adam] Aaron Kosminski
lived in Whitechapel.
649
00:37:21,030 --> 00:37:23,366
He was a young Polish Jew.
650
00:37:25,117 --> 00:37:28,162
But he didn't go to the asylum until 1891.
651
00:37:28,246 --> 00:37:31,666
He was still wandering around Whitechapel
three years after Mary Kelly was killed,
652
00:37:31,749 --> 00:37:34,835
so that doesn't really chime with the idea
653
00:37:34,919 --> 00:37:38,923
that the suspect was taken off the street
soon after the last murder.
654
00:37:40,633 --> 00:37:41,801
{\an8}[Richard] Sir Robert Anderson
655
00:37:41,884 --> 00:37:44,512
{\an8}and Chief Inspector
Donald Sutherland Swanson,
656
00:37:44,595 --> 00:37:46,806
{\an8}the two highest-ranking officers
on the case,
657
00:37:46,889 --> 00:37:51,060
{\an8}both appear to have thought that a man
named Kosminski was the murderer.
658
00:37:51,143 --> 00:37:53,229
Anderson and Swanson
were in the position to know
659
00:37:53,312 --> 00:37:55,147
all the evidence against all the suspects,
660
00:37:55,231 --> 00:37:57,942
and if they thought
the evidence against Kosminski
661
00:37:58,025 --> 00:38:00,403
was stronger than the evidence
against any other suspect,
662
00:38:00,486 --> 00:38:03,656
he has to be high on the list of suspects
of being Jack the Ripper.
663
00:38:04,407 --> 00:38:08,995
The only problem is that, uh,
we can't say with any degree of certainty
664
00:38:09,078 --> 00:38:13,499
that Aaron Kosminski is definitely
the Kosminski they had in mind.
665
00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:22,842
[Adam] Over the years,
there's been more and more suspects
666
00:38:22,925 --> 00:38:25,428
and various theories coming out.
667
00:38:26,012 --> 00:38:28,306
And, in fact,
the Johnny Depp film From Hell
668
00:38:28,389 --> 00:38:32,601
and the Michael Caine
1988 television series,
669
00:38:32,685 --> 00:38:37,690
probably the two most well-known
fictional versions of the Ripper story,
670
00:38:37,773 --> 00:38:40,401
both featured
Sir William Gull as the Ripper.
671
00:38:40,484 --> 00:38:42,486
[sinister music plays]
672
00:38:45,323 --> 00:38:48,117
{\an8}[Lindsay] So Sir William Gull,
who has been claimed as the murderer
673
00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:50,202
{\an8}in nearly all the films you will ever see,
674
00:38:50,286 --> 00:38:52,288
has being linked since the 1970s
675
00:38:52,371 --> 00:38:54,665
with what we call
the Royal Conspiracy Theory.
676
00:38:55,958 --> 00:38:57,418
So according to the theory,
677
00:38:57,501 --> 00:38:59,795
Queen Victoria's grandson,
Prince Albert Victor,
678
00:38:59,879 --> 00:39:03,049
had an affair with an East End prostitute,
and they had a baby.
679
00:39:03,132 --> 00:39:04,550
A baby girl, Alice.
680
00:39:04,633 --> 00:39:06,802
Alice had a nanny, Mary Jane Kelly.
681
00:39:06,886 --> 00:39:08,137
Mary Jane had four friends.
682
00:39:08,220 --> 00:39:10,931
{\an8}Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman,
Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes.
683
00:39:11,015 --> 00:39:14,602
{\an8}And together, as a group, they set out
to blackmail the Crown and the government
684
00:39:14,685 --> 00:39:16,771
with this secret knowledge about a baby.
685
00:39:16,854 --> 00:39:19,648
Therefore, the royal doctor,
Sir William Gull,
686
00:39:19,732 --> 00:39:21,692
was sent out to track them down
to kill them
687
00:39:21,776 --> 00:39:23,527
to keep the secret silent forever.
688
00:39:25,029 --> 00:39:28,949
The problem with that theory is that
Sir William Gull had had a stroke in 1887,
689
00:39:29,033 --> 00:39:32,578
so he was physically incapable
of, uh, trundling around Whitechapel,
690
00:39:32,661 --> 00:39:34,789
carrying out these murders
and mutilations.
691
00:39:35,289 --> 00:39:37,541
[Lindsay] Sir William
was never a contemporary suspect.
692
00:39:37,625 --> 00:39:39,752
His name does not appear
in any police files,
693
00:39:39,835 --> 00:39:41,087
in any contemporary papers,
694
00:39:41,170 --> 00:39:44,256
in any contemporary documentation
with this case whatsoever.
695
00:39:45,132 --> 00:39:47,885
[Adam] And of course, when that theory
is completely debunked,
696
00:39:47,968 --> 00:39:49,428
it stayed in the consciousness.
697
00:39:49,929 --> 00:39:53,808
Many people just blame anybody
who was literally alive at the time.
698
00:39:53,891 --> 00:39:57,728
And I think quite a lot of people
have been blamed with no real evidence,
699
00:39:57,812 --> 00:40:00,106
because very few records, sadly, exist.
700
00:40:02,942 --> 00:40:06,070
The Jack the Ripper murders, as most
people would tend to think of them,
701
00:40:06,153 --> 00:40:08,322
were just over the autumn of 1888.
702
00:40:08,406 --> 00:40:11,617
That's the murder of five victims
in a number of weeks.
703
00:40:11,700 --> 00:40:14,537
But there's a police file
called the Whitechapel murders file,
704
00:40:14,620 --> 00:40:18,791
which ranges from 1888
all the way through to 1891
705
00:40:18,874 --> 00:40:21,627
and covers much more
than the five victims.
706
00:40:21,710 --> 00:40:23,587
We don't know how many, if any,
707
00:40:23,671 --> 00:40:27,174
of the other victims
in the Whitechapel murders wider file
708
00:40:27,258 --> 00:40:29,301
may have been killed
by the Ripper as well.
709
00:40:30,678 --> 00:40:32,721
[thunder rumbles]
710
00:40:32,805 --> 00:40:34,723
[thunder crashes]
711
00:40:36,434 --> 00:40:39,812
[Paul] There's a file,
which we refer to as the "suspects file,"
712
00:40:40,479 --> 00:40:43,607
of people who were questioned
about the Ripper
713
00:40:43,691 --> 00:40:46,944
{\an8}and perhaps suspected of it
for a short while.
714
00:40:47,570 --> 00:40:50,781
{\an8}Um, that file's gone, and we don't know
wh-- what's happened to it.
715
00:40:51,365 --> 00:40:54,618
[Adam] It was well-known
that in the years following the 1880s,
716
00:40:54,702 --> 00:40:55,953
going into 1890s,
717
00:40:56,036 --> 00:40:59,248
police officers were allowed to go
and examine the papers.
718
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,919
And it seems that right from that point,
certain sheets or reports,
719
00:41:04,003 --> 00:41:06,213
photographs of the victims
that we have today,
720
00:41:06,297 --> 00:41:11,343
were slowly weeded out, taken away,
removed by souvenir hunters.
721
00:41:12,303 --> 00:41:15,473
Bond's report went missing from the files
for several years,
722
00:41:15,556 --> 00:41:19,185
and when it was recovered,
sent anonymously to Scotland Yard.
723
00:41:19,977 --> 00:41:22,104
[Paul] The "Dear Boss" letter
went missing.
724
00:41:22,188 --> 00:41:24,607
And that, fortunately, was returned.
725
00:41:24,690 --> 00:41:27,485
And some of the photographs
of the victims,
726
00:41:27,568 --> 00:41:32,072
uh, have been discovered,
uh, in the last couple of decades.
727
00:41:33,282 --> 00:41:35,367
It's a bit like putting together a jigsaw.
728
00:41:35,451 --> 00:41:36,994
You have all these pieces,
729
00:41:37,786 --> 00:41:41,290
and some of those pieces
don't actually fit that jigsaw.
730
00:41:41,874 --> 00:41:45,461
And so you manage to put together
all the ones that seem to form a picture.
731
00:41:45,544 --> 00:41:49,256
You get a picture. And then you get
chunks in the picture that are missing.
732
00:41:55,471 --> 00:41:57,389
[Lindsay] It is frustrating,
as a crime historian,
733
00:41:57,473 --> 00:42:00,184
not being able to say,
"This is the person that did it."
734
00:42:00,267 --> 00:42:03,187
And more to the point,
to be able to solve these killings
735
00:42:03,270 --> 00:42:07,149
for the victims' families and descendants,
because they are still out there.
736
00:42:08,275 --> 00:42:11,445
[Richard] The more people look into it,
the more facts come to light,
737
00:42:11,529 --> 00:42:14,990
and the more facts come to light,
then the story just evolves,
738
00:42:15,074 --> 00:42:18,160
develops, and takes on,
uh, different aspects,
739
00:42:18,244 --> 00:42:21,539
and goes off in directions that you would
never expect it to go off in.
740
00:42:22,122 --> 00:42:24,500
Of course, we'd love to know
who Jack the Ripper was.
741
00:42:24,583 --> 00:42:27,753
I mean, uh, the end of the mystery,
th-- that would be terrific.
742
00:42:28,337 --> 00:42:32,174
What we would like is
any… any new information.
743
00:42:32,258 --> 00:42:33,842
Anything that people have got.
744
00:42:34,927 --> 00:42:37,680
[Richard] There might be documents
out there that are in people's lofts.
745
00:42:37,763 --> 00:42:39,473
They might be in people's cellars.
746
00:42:41,100 --> 00:42:44,103
[Adam] I believe there's something
potentially out there
747
00:42:44,186 --> 00:42:47,273
which could take the case much forward
and potentially solve it.
748
00:42:47,356 --> 00:42:50,985
Somebody might, one day,
might open a trunk, might open a case,
749
00:42:51,068 --> 00:42:53,404
and there's the evidence
that names Jack the Ripper.
750
00:42:55,864 --> 00:42:58,325
But until that happens,
it's still a mystery.
751
00:42:58,409 --> 00:43:00,411
[uneasy music plays]
752
00:43:04,832 --> 00:43:06,458
[bell tolls]
753
00:43:08,877 --> 00:43:10,879
[unsettling music plays]
754
00:44:22,743 --> 00:44:23,952
[music ends]