More than 100 years after the serial killer Jack the Ripper terrorised the streets of East London, one suspect has been named as the possible killer: Mary Jane Kelly's former boyfriend, Joseph Barnett.
Jack the Ripper carried out his crimes over just four months, targeting sex workers and killing them in a horrifying way. Operating in and around Whitechapel between August and November 1888, the killer's spree came to an abrupt end with the death of Mary Jane Kelly.
The Whitechapel murders
Mary Ann Nichols was the first victim, found in the early hours of the morning with her throat slit so badly she was basically decapitated, and some of her sex organs removed. She was found by a butcher on his way to the nearby Spitalfields Market, who was promptly arrested.
Annie Chapman was the second victim, found in very similar circumstances to Mary Ann. She was brutally killed on September 8, 1888. Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes were the next two victims, both killed on September 30, 1888. Elizabeth wasn't mutilated in the same way as the other four victims, leading to a theory the killer was interrupted and forced to flee.
The final victim
Mary Jane Kelly was Jack the Ripper's final victim, and his most brutal killing yet. Her horribly mutilated and disembowelled body was found in the single room she rented in Whitechapel on November 9, 1888. Her face had been "hacked beyond recognition" and her throat "severed down to her spine". Her abdomen had almost completely been emptied of its organs, with her uterus, kidneys and one breast placed beneath her head. Mary Jane's heart was missing from the crime scene.
Despite no one being charged for the murders, the police closed the investigation just one week after Mary Jane's death. Officers had been sent two letters, both with different handwriting, claiming to be from the killer. One was signed "Jack the Ripper", and so the legend was born.
The Joseph Barnett theory
Joseph Barnett was said to be deeply in love with Mary Jane and desperate for her to leave her life as a sex worker behind. There is a theory that he began his killing spree in the hope it would terrify her away from her work, but Mary Jane was not deterred, and the couple split up in October 1888.
According to the theory, Barnett tried to win Mary Jane back but was unsuccessful until finally, in a rage, he turned up at the single room she called home. This becomes more compelling because she was the only victim killed indoors, and Barnett would have had a key. Several eye witness accounts described a man who could have been Barnett, and he lived in the heart of Whitechapel. He also worked as a fish monger, so would have had some skill with a knife, which he could have used to carry out the surgical dismemberment of his victims.
