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JACK THE RIPPER, one of the most notorious serial killers in history, has been identified through DNA traces found on a shawl, claims a sleuth in a book out today.
The true identity of Jack the Ripper, whose grisly murders terrorised the murky slums of Whitechapel in east London in 1888, has been a mystery ever since, with dozens of suspects that include royalty and prime ministers down to bootmakers.
But after extracting DNA from a shawl recovered from the scene of one of the killings, which matched relatives of both the victim and one of the suspects, Jack the Ripper sleuth Russell Edwards claims the identity of the murderer is now beyond doubt.
He says the infamous killer is Aaron Kosminski, a Jewish emigre from Poland, who worked as a barber.
Edwards, a businessman interested in the Ripper story, bought a bloodstained Victorian shawl at auction in 2007.
The story goes that it came from the murder scene of the Ripper’s fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes, on September 30, 1888.
Police acting sergeant Amos Simpson, who had been at the scene, got permission from his superiors to take it for his dressmaker wife – who was subsequently aghast at the thought of using a bloodstained shawl.
It had hitherto been passed down through the policeman’s direct descendants, who had stored it unwashed in a box. It briefly spent a few years on loan to Scotland Yard’s crime museum.
Victim disembowelled
Edwards sought to find out if DNA technology could conclusively link the shawl to the murder scene.
Working on the blood stains, Doctor Jari Louhelainen, senior lecturer in molecular at Liverpool John Moores University, isolated seven small segments of mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down through the female line.
They were matched with the DNA of Karen Miller, a direct descendant of Eddowes, confirming her blood was on the shawl.
Meanwhile stains exposed under ultra-violet light suggested the presence of seminal fluid.
Doctor David Miller, reader in molecular andrology at the University of Leeds, managed to find cells from which DNA was isolated.
With the help of genealogists, Edwards found a descendant of Kosminski through the female line, who offered samples of her DNA.
Louhelainen was then able to match DNA from the semen stains to Kosminski’s descendant.
For Edwards, this places Kosminski at the scene of Eddowes’ gruesome murder.
Eddowes, 46, was killed on the same night as the Ripper’s third victim. An orphan with a daughter and two sons, she worked as a casual prostitute.
She was found brutally murdered at 1:45am. Her throat was cut and she was disembowelled. Her face was also mutilated.
The belief is that the shawl was left at the crime scene by the killer, not Eddowes.
Calls for peer review
Kosminski was born in Klodawa in central Poland on September 11, 1865. His family fled the imperial Russian anti-Jewish pogroms and emigrated to east London in the early 1880s. He lived close to the murder scenes.
Some reports say he was taken in by the police to be identified by a witness who had seen him with one of the victims, and though a positive identification was made, the witness refused to give incriminating evidence, meaning the police had little option but to release him.
He entered a workhouse in 1889, where he was described on admission as “destitute”. He was discharged later that year but soon ended up in an insane asylum.
He died from gangrene in an asylum on March 24, 1919 and was buried three days later at East Ham Cemetery in east London.
Some have cast doubt on Edwards’ findings.
The research has not been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, meaning the claims cannot be independently verified or the methodology scrutinised.
Professor Alec Jeffreys, who invented the DNA fingerprinting technique 30 years ago this week, called for further verification.
“An interesting but remarkable claim that needs to be subjected to peer review, with detailed analysis of the provenance of the shawl and the nature of the claimed DNA match with the perpetrator’s descendants and its power of discrimination; no actual evidence has yet been provided,” Jeffreys told The Independent newspaper.
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Seeing as we are an island surrounded by beautiful (for the most part) coastline it makes sense to play to our strengths, especially if such high employment rates could be achieved. One worry that I would have is how seasonal a lot of these projects and would an uncontrollable factor such as weather be able to negatively impact this initiative very easily?
Absolutely but once we don’t return to the bad old days of rip-off Ireland. We have a habit of shooting ourselves in the foot.
Ha, less is more! No more hype. What we need is well-functioning infrastructure, for example real cycle ways, like the Green Way to Achill Island. We do not need more golf courses, tourist traps or badly signposted and maintained ‘walking’ or ‘cycling’ ways just on roads. It doesn’t become a cycle track by putting a sign or two there: it’s still a road. We also need local ‘bad weather’ attractions’. All tourist amenities and historical attractions are closing from Oct to Mar here in the west. If we want any ‘all year round’ tourism we have to stop this and keep them open with a skeleton staff ratio for some days the week. We do not need only cheap seasonal labour; we need sustainable tourism for the future
100% agreed, we could be a massive market leader in this! Our west coast is pretty incredible and should be developed in a clever way, walking/cycling/hiking are all huge markets and some minor investment could reap huge rewards!
We don’t exploit our natural resources half enough for tourism or even for ourselves. “craic” and leprechauns ain’t gonna bring tourists here.
Our politicians sell off our natural resources to be exploited
Oil and gas attracts tourists how?
They should maybe be thinking along the lines of safari park accommodation in Africa or ski resorts – but in the wilds of Bureen, Donegal or Kerry etc., Not dated old hotels in cities but specifically located modern facilities that cater for the activities. That ‘get away from it all’ experience that actually does live up to the phoney TV ad blarney we see all the time.
BTW It’s a real shame so much of the East coast is off limits and blocked off – you can’t walk very far south from Dun Laoghaire without hitting houses directly on the coastline. And of course the whole city harbour is non-existant pretty much with Dublin Port blocking everything. You’d think there would be regular short hop ferries from the City center to Howth, Clontarf, or Dun Laoighaire, Greystones at this stage. We must be the only major city with a harbour that doesn’t do this – like Hong Kong, Sydney, London etc.,
West Cork needs to look at the infestation of private property keep out signs that blight their beautiful countryside. As a regular visitor it leaves a bad taste and it’s not something you see in neighbouring Kerry, nor do we want to see it.
Dublin bay cruises runs every day Dun Loaighaire- Dublin port – Howth and back again , although I would love to see another one from malahide – Howth etc or possibly a park and ride ferry at Clontarf going to Howth . Yes I’m from Howth :)
Hong Kong, Sydney and London are not comparable cities to Dublin.
The Wild Atlantic way is a great idea and takes people along done of the very best and must stunning scenery in Ireland.
In the world I think you meant
What a joke ! A bit of Sun and every Skumbag and his bird took over all the coastal beaches the last few days and We want tourists to bring a Towel ! Clean up the filth first.
I think the staff spend their time on beaches, the staff at the College Green office never heard of Francis Bacon never mind where his exhibition was being held. 1 assistant simply replied “NO” when asked where the exhibition was on. I wrote to newspaper hoping somebody in the tourist board would at least inform their staff of important events. People come from all over the world to see this exhibition and out Tourist Board never heard of it. Shameful.
That’s not a Failte Ireland Tourist Office. It’s business, mostly a ticket selling office for day tours etc. It is just designed to look like a tourist office.
hope they don’t end up destroying the landscape
http://www.travelbuddy.mobi have over 450 things to do in Ireland. It’s a good list of what’s available around the country to visitors.
Shameless plug finished.
I bet the government are factoring in McDonald’s into this….no shame
There was a story on the front page of the Western People about a proposed Monasteries of the Moy Greenway, along the shore of the Moy estuary from Ballina to Killala getting blocked by land owners. If these land owners did farm they would probably be the best farmers in the world.
How long before we see the wild atlantic way destroyed with wind turbines and pylons….Irelands politics will see to that
And when the subsidies run out the West will look like this.
http://toryardvaark.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/abandoned_southpoint_wind_farm.jpg
Why? There’s nothing to see in Ireland outside Dublin.
Looking for attention?
Nothing to see in dublin only puke….whenever the wife and I go home we go straight to Cork
I remember this catchphrase during the 80s
Ireland should now capitalize on promoting our radiation free coastline…something that is the envy of a lot of countries around the globe…
The Irish Sea has been described by Greenpeace as the most radioactively contaminated sea in the world with some “eight million litres of nuclear waste”
Britain has been dumping nuclear waste in to the Irish sea for 50 years. Probably the most radioactive sea in Europe.
There is a total media blackout as to what is going on in the pacific ocean and west coast of the United States up as far as Alaska.
Have you ever left a comment that wasn’t negative Frank? Perennial moaner!!!
Marlon Brando…………..The truth about Fukushima is negative……
No point sticking your head in the sand about it.
Why is it always about the coastal areas we have beautiful lakes and river shannon in the middle of the country no money ever spent cmon bord failte huge potential here
We need to think big here. Our West coast is stunningly beautiful from Donegal to kerry and beyond. A cycle way like the one from Westoprt to Achill should be built along the entire west coast with facilities in place like bike hire and small cafés, public toilets, camp sites(proper ones like they have in France and Italy).
We need changing rooms and cafe’s on our popular surfing beaches.
Cycling and hiking holidays are very popular and we should tap into this market as much as we can and push Ireland as the best place on earth to go on a hiking and cycling holidays.
With a bit of planning and investment this would be very achievable and could give people on our west coast a sustainable income by setting up small businesses along this route (like bike hire, camping sites, cafés, B+Bs, surf hire, etc)
I think that there should be a route like the west opened up down in the South West and South East. You would be taking in small towns along the Kerry Cork Waterford and Wexford. Some of the most stunning scenry you can find any were in the world. I might be abit biased but the coast road from Dungarvan to Tramore is stunning with the copper coast and all the small seaside villages like Stradbally , Annestown, Bunmahon and Fenor.
This from Bord Failte’s own Visitor Attitudes Survey:
“The country’s natural heritage including the Burren
and the cliffs of Moher far outperformed other aspects
with 66% of visitors ‘very interested’, compared
with traditional culture (45%) historic Ireland (41%),
Celtic Ireland (37%), Christian Ireland (25%) and
contemporary culture (12%).
An unspoilt environment (85% of respondents) and
the range of natural attractions (81%) resonate with
Europeans selecting an Irish holiday…”
So please Bord Failte, stem the already tragic desecration of our lovely countryside by planning laws that allow modern bungalows or estates of holiday homes to be built in beautiful natural area, especially along the coast…
Imagine going to a Tuscan village and seeing modern bungalows built there – or a French village – it just wouldn’t happen, would it?
Perhaps Failte Ireland need to realise that our natural assets like our wild and unspoilt countryside are what attract tourists (both foreign and domestic). I have heard so many tourists express disappointment at the blighting of our beauty spots by tacky one off modern bungalows and developments, from golf courses to estates of ‘cottage’ holiday homes that should never ever have been given planning permission. It is hideous to see coastal dunes in a beauty spot marred by a golf course. They need also to tackle the fact that the right to roam is so restricted in this country, unlike other countries where they have kept their rights of access to beauty spots – who owns this land after all?
Good work.
The hotel trade in Ireland is in serious debt!
Government should help reduce the Vat rate to zero for 5years to help the industry recover.
The Spanish Government support the tourist industry in Spain financially by subsidising the industry.
The Irish Government could reduce VAT to zero to allow the industry recover!
dermot , the hotel trade in ireland is in serious debt because too many hoteliers borrowed huge sums of money trying to ‘out do’ their competitors by building leisure centers, golf courses and spas instead of concentrating on getting the basics of the hospitality trade right .good service, clean accommodation and good food will always be the main factors for people staying in a hotel or even a b&b , when these factors are ignored or placed lower down the scale than someones pipe dream or ego trip of having a golf course or sauna, thats when things start to fall apart . delusions of grandeur were epidemic in the hospitality industry during the ‘tiger’ years, from hotels to coffee shops, to back street cafe’s far too many of them tried to go beyond their means and capabilities.
If it is not our Tourist Board the CEO of Irish Tourism should be fired and charged with neglecting the Brand name. That makes the whole situation even worse, imagine Apple or Google brand names being treated the same way. I suppose our trademarks are in Irish. Jesus help us, our biggest business brand and they can’t even protect it.
inspired by this article we took a trip out today along the ‘gold coast ‘ and ‘copper coast’ from Dungarvan to Tramore in county Waterford , the beaches at Bunmahon and Annstown cove were fair busy and looked good, but sadly you could hardly see a lot of the beautiful coastline as you drove along the road due to the overgrown grass verges, even the verges around the car parks were overgrown , on land that was obviously farmland (you could see them collecting the silage) the hedges and verges were cut neatly and alongside private houses the same , but when it came to verges and hedgerows along public roads the view was hidden by the overgrowth. surely its not to much to expect local authorities to take care and maintain these roadside verges and hedgerows. tourism brings a lot of money to these areas, if they are left in such a poor state and neglected, tourists will no longer visit and the local economy will suffer . why do we put up with such inept and short sighted national and local government in this country?..
the ‘ big thing ‘ in holidaying and tourism these days is a return to camping and caravaning, people prefare the ability to come and go as they please instead of the more limited structure of staying in hotels or b&b’s, ireland though has a very ‘unfriendly’ attitude to wards motorhomes and caravaners, and although the standards a many of the countries ‘official’ camping sites have greatly improved over the last 10 yrs or so, there is still a shortage of good cheaper sites or ‘wild camping’ sites available, the south east in particular is quite expensive for caravan/camping holidays . the recent changes to the law regarding motorhomes and their use is also very restrictive , the fact that a campervan or motor home should (by law) be classed as a ‘recreational vehicle’ and therefore only used for a short time each year is both restrictive and idiotic , modern motorhomes,campers and caravans are built to be used all year round, also the ban on caravans using lay-byes as short term stop over points is again restrictive . we have enjoyed some fantastic short stays and journey’s around the irish coasts in the past and look forward to many more .
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