Derek Brown, a convicted murderer who copied Jack the Ripper by stalking and killing two women in Whitechapel, has died in hospital at the age of 64. Brown, known as the 'Modern Ripper', was serving a minimum 30-year sentence at HMP Wakefield for the murders of Xiao Mei Guo, 29, and Bonnie Barrett, 24, in 2007.
Brown fell ill on September 27 and was taken to hospital, where he died two days later, just shy of his 65th birthday. A source said he had been in critical care since being found in his cell on Saturday afternoon. The bodies of his victims have never been found.
During his 2008 trial, the court heard that Brown, a former delivery driver and convicted rapist, targeted vulnerable women in the Whitechapel area, the same district where Jack the Ripper murdered prostitutes in the 1880s. Police believed he sought notoriety by mimicking the Victorian serial killer.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Kandiah said at the time: 'If he kept killing prostitutes from the Whitechapel area, then that link would be made. If this was a spree, it seems likely that we stopped him at number two.' Sentencing Judge Martin Stephens noted Brown showed 'not a sliver of remorse' and disposed of the bodies 'with frightening efficiency'.
Mrs Guo, a mother of two, was last seen selling DVDs in Whitechapel market in August 2007. Miss Barrett disappeared from the same area on September 18, 2007. Police spent 800 hours searching for their remains, including trawling the Thames, but found nothing. A search of Brown's Rotherhithe flat revealed traces of blood from both women and a receipt for a bow saw, heavy-duty gloves, and cleaning materials.
