[Mr Ramsbotham]

Notice that in the article the same old tired lie, that the shawl was found by the body of the victim, is repeated. No such shawl was found. The inventory of items found with the victim was carefuly catalogued as evidence; no shawl was amongst them. The victim was a twopenny prostitute who was out very early in the morning, following a drunken binge and a short stay in a jail cell, looking for a customer to bring in the two or threepence required for her to buy a bed. Earlier in the day the boyfriend had pawned his boots so they could eat and have a place to sleep; she spent the money in drink. Had she possessed a valuable item such as the shawl, it would doubtless have been pawned as well.

This is nothing like the Richard III discovery, where the DNA evidence fit the historical evidence hand-in-glove. To me it smells very much like a hoax.

[UCANSEE2]

I agree. All this DNA test proves is that it is likely Kominski was in the area frequenting prostitutes before he was put in the Mental Ward. He may even have killed this one prostitute. However, the proof that the shawl belonged to her are a figment of the author's imagination.

Where did the shawl come from, do you know ?

[Tredegar]

Quite right Mr Ramsbotham. There is absolutely nothing conclusive about this.

In my eyes, the shawl has an appalling provenance. It is only oral tradition that it was allegedly ‘taken home’ by a police constable (Amos Simpson). How likely is this? The material is nearly 8 feet long! Not something you could just tuck under your tunic. Also, the Eddowes case was handled by the City Police, while Simpson was a member of the Metropolitan Police. It was not his turf. Why was he there in the first place?

As others have stated, the police (City Police, remember) made no mention of any shawl in their reports.

To say nothing of the fact that the shawl has had plenty of years to be ‘contaminated’. Someone even suggested that it was put on view publicly at a Jack The Ripper convention in 2007 - and was actually in the same room as two of Eddowe’s descendants!

I don’t believe this was Eddowe’s shawl at all.

I think Jack still eludes his hunters.