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Authors: Paul Begg, John Bennett
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Rumbelow’s 1975 book was also given a timely reprint. Many of these efforts made a point of putting forward a suspect, introducing the wider public to as-yet ignored candidates like Aaron Kosminski and David Cohen (Fido) and Roslyn D’Onston Stephenson (Harris). 9
Ironically, the centenary year saw only
one
new Ripper book published, Paul Begg’s
The Uncensored Facts
, 10 an attempt to lay down the story of the Whitechapel murders in as factual a way as possible, taking advantage of the material from the Scotland Yard and Home Office files that had now been made available for general consultation at the Public Record Office. By this time, several important discoveries had been made which should have put the study of the Whitechapel murders on to a level historic footing. The first of these new revelations came in the form of the copy of Robert Anderson’s 1910 memoirs
The Lighter Side of My Official Life
, which had once belonged to Chief Inspector Donald Swanson and contained the marginalia relating to Anderson’s suspect, who Swanson said was ‘Kosminski’. Swanson’s copy of the memoirs had been passed on to his daughter and on her death (about 1980) the book came into the possession of Jim Swanson, her nephew. 11
Kosminski, of course, was not a new name. He was included in Melville Macnaghten’s memoranda of 1894, along with Druitt, although it was the latter who found favour with the theorists after the discovery of the document in 1959. But herewas a previously named suspect who was now mentioned once again by one of the most senior officials in the case and consequently could not be ignored. Jim Swanson managed to get the notes published in the
Daily Telegraph
, 12 although the accompanying article hardly hit the heights of sensationalism. It referenced Martin Fido’s research and included comment by Donald Rumbelow, but the whole tone appeared to be one of caution. In the UK, London Weekend Television’s
Crime Monthly
series, featuring investigations into crimes past and present, took on the Ripper. With a distinct sense of ‘ownership’,
Crime Monthly
, and in particular its presenter Paul Ross, claimed to have unmasked Jack the Ripper at last. 13 Right up to the eleventh hour, Ross was tight-lipped: ‘All I can say is that the man we think was the killer was arrested as a suspect at the time, but he is not a famous suspect.’ 14 Nor was he a new one. In a classic case of the media presenting previously known facts as if they were some form of esoteric investigative secret known only to them,
Crime Monthly
named its suspect – Kosminski.
The ever popular game of ‘whodunnit?’ was properly addressed in
The Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper
, another TV special, introduced by the actor Peter Ustinov and featuring a panel of experts from various relevant fields. 15 As well as appearances by authorities Colin Wilson, Daniel Farson, Donald Rumbelow and Martin Fido, the studio panel consisted of William Waddell, curator of Scotland Yard’s Black Museum, forensic pathologist William Eckert, Anne Mallalieu QC and Roy Hazlewood and John Douglas of the FBI. The latter pair brought with them their ‘state of the art’ criminal profile of the Whitechapel murderer, something that had been created especially for the programme. This study, created using psychological profiling techniques developed over many yearsdealing with serial murderers, was seen as a ground-breaking tool in the attempt to identify Jack the Ripper.
In short, it stated that the Whitechapel murderer was a male. He was of white race in view of the fact that white was the predominant race at the crime scene locations, and that generally crimes such as these are intraracial. He would have been between twenty-eight and thirty-six years of age, did not look out of the ordinary and was probably unmarried. He came from a family where he was raised by a domineering mother and weak, passive or absent father. In all likelihood, his mother drank
Ironically, the centenary year saw only
one
new Ripper book published, Paul Begg’s
The Uncensored Facts
, 10 an attempt to lay down the story of the Whitechapel murders in as factual a way as possible, taking advantage of the material from the Scotland Yard and Home Office files that had now been made available for general consultation at the Public Record Office. By this time, several important discoveries had been made which should have put the study of the Whitechapel murders on to a level historic footing. The first of these new revelations came in the form of the copy of Robert Anderson’s 1910 memoirs
The Lighter Side of My Official Life
, which had once belonged to Chief Inspector Donald Swanson and contained the marginalia relating to Anderson’s suspect, who Swanson said was ‘Kosminski’. Swanson’s copy of the memoirs had been passed on to his daughter and on her death (about 1980) the book came into the possession of Jim Swanson, her nephew. 11
Kosminski, of course, was not a new name. He was included in Melville Macnaghten’s memoranda of 1894, along with Druitt, although it was the latter who found favour with the theorists after the discovery of the document in 1959. But herewas a previously named suspect who was now mentioned once again by one of the most senior officials in the case and consequently could not be ignored. Jim Swanson managed to get the notes published in the
Daily Telegraph
, 12 although the accompanying article hardly hit the heights of sensationalism. It referenced Martin Fido’s research and included comment by Donald Rumbelow, but the whole tone appeared to be one of caution. In the UK, London Weekend Television’s
Crime Monthly
series, featuring investigations into crimes past and present, took on the Ripper. With a distinct sense of ‘ownership’,
Crime Monthly
, and in particular its presenter Paul Ross, claimed to have unmasked Jack the Ripper at last. 13 Right up to the eleventh hour, Ross was tight-lipped: ‘All I can say is that the man we think was the killer was arrested as a suspect at the time, but he is not a famous suspect.’ 14 Nor was he a new one. In a classic case of the media presenting previously known facts as if they were some form of esoteric investigative secret known only to them,
Crime Monthly
named its suspect – Kosminski.
The ever popular game of ‘whodunnit?’ was properly addressed in
The Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper
, another TV special, introduced by the actor Peter Ustinov and featuring a panel of experts from various relevant fields. 15 As well as appearances by authorities Colin Wilson, Daniel Farson, Donald Rumbelow and Martin Fido, the studio panel consisted of William Waddell, curator of Scotland Yard’s Black Museum, forensic pathologist William Eckert, Anne Mallalieu QC and Roy Hazlewood and John Douglas of the FBI. The latter pair brought with them their ‘state of the art’ criminal profile of the Whitechapel murderer, something that had been created especially for the programme. This study, created using psychological profiling techniques developed over many yearsdealing with serial murderers, was seen as a ground-breaking tool in the attempt to identify Jack the Ripper.
In short, it stated that the Whitechapel murderer was a male. He was of white race in view of the fact that white was the predominant race at the crime scene locations, and that generally crimes such as these are intraracial. He would have been between twenty-eight and thirty-six years of age, did not look out of the ordinary and was probably unmarried. He came from a family where he was raised by a domineering mother and weak, passive or absent father. In all likelihood, his mother drank
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