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Police make bizarre legal battle to keep Jack the Ripper files secret... 'confidentiality'
Mail on Sunday ^ | 15th May 2011

Posted on 05/15/2011 7:15:40 PM PDT by naturalman1975

The Met Police is fighting a legal battle to keep files detailing the investigation into the notorious Jack the Ripper case secret - to maintain confidentiality for Victorian 'supergrasses'.

The documents are said to include four new suspects for the serial killings which terrorised Whitechapel in 1888 and have become one of the world's most infamous unsolved cases.

The historic ledgers have 36,000 entries detailing police interaction with informants between 1888 to 1912.

However, Scotland Yard reportedly believes disclosing the names could hinder recruiting and gathering information from modern informants, affecting terrorism investigations - and even lead to the Victorians' relatives being attacked.

Author and former police officer, Trevor Marriott, has tried for three years to see uncensored versions of the documents.

He has previously applied under the Freedom of Information Act and, when that was refused, he appealed to the Information Commissioner, which also rejected his attempt.

He has now appealed to the Information Tribunal, which is expected to release its decision later this year.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; godsgravesglyphs; jacktheripper; metpolice; scotlandyard
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To: combat_boots
I wondered what he meant, until I actually saw the shadow/spirit of a snake crawl up someone’s torso one time. Changed me a whole lot, as I really didn’t think any of that was possible.

I see people very differently now. Like a positive/negative magnet sort of thing we all did as kids.I know what you are saying for I have seen something similar too.

41 posted on 05/15/2011 8:31:53 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono (My greatest fear is that when I'm gone my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them)
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To: combat_boots

Interesting report.

They exist,..including the fallen angels who are even more heinous.


42 posted on 05/15/2011 8:32:49 PM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: naturalman1975

Thank you for the link. It is very interesting and pretty much indicates Sickert wasn’t even in London during four of the murders.

Reading about this case just emphasized how often someone is charged with a murder based on the slimmest amount of circumstantial evidence, like Scott Peterson, convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Lacey.

I’m always shocked at how someone can be sent off to death row minus incontrovertible evidence they committed the murder.


43 posted on 05/15/2011 8:34:08 PM PDT by SatinDoll (NOT FOREIGN NATIONALS AS OUR PRESIDENT)
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To: naturalman1975
Silly brits - everyone knows Jack went with the Vorlons.


44 posted on 05/15/2011 8:37:37 PM PDT by arderkrag (Georgia is God's Country.----------In the same way Rush is balance, I am consensus.)
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To: naturalman1975
....I think it was more likely somebody rather unimportant and unremarkable - one of the rather boring suspects who were just madmen living in the squalor of the East End, who did nothing else in their life of any note, except kill some prostitutes. But those aren’t the exciting stories.

The method and manner of the 'kill' suggests more.

45 posted on 05/15/2011 8:41:16 PM PDT by Just mythoughts
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To: naturalman1975

Well, now this is all really strange as there have been documentaries on the case that use official docs all the time. The one that had the most probable suspect was one that named the killer as a James Kelly who was an inmate in an asylum in London. He killed his wife. According to multiple accounts, he escaped the asylum and traveled to the US where there were a string of murders in various cities on the rail lines where the killer used the Ripper M.O. It supposedly matches his travel schedule. In the end, Kelly turned up at the asylum in London decades later and there is an account taken down by a psychiatrist or something like that. Why Scotland Yard would have any problem releasing the records at this date is anybody’s guess.


46 posted on 05/15/2011 8:52:29 PM PDT by Desdemona ( If trusting the men in the clergy was a requirement for Faith, there would be no one in the pews.)
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To: JLS
But the Met Police’s number one institution is the Met Police.

Excellent point.

47 posted on 05/15/2011 9:07:31 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: j.argese
A couple more White Chapel connections, John (correctly Joseph) Merrick, the Elephant Man was a contemporary of Jack the Ripper. Also, Bram Stocker, author of “Dracula”, who owned a music hall at the time of the Ripper murders. I’ve often thought those murders could have had a subconscious influence on Stoker.

The idea that Merrick could have done it is somewhat absurd, given the fact that he was severely crippled and could hardly get around. He did, however, have a manager (Tom Norman) who had kept a shop just a stone's throw from where the first victim was attacked, and had been a very competent professional butcher at one point in his career (the manager, not Merrick).

Whatever the case, it's not surprising that most of the suspects for the past fifty years or so have been people of some fame or celebrity ... those are the only people we're liable to know anything about!

48 posted on 05/15/2011 9:12:54 PM PDT by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: Desdemona
Well, now this is all really strange as there have been documentaries on the case that use official docs all the time.

A lot of records are in the public domain and have been for many years. Not all are, the ones being discussed here are among the last extant records not to have been released.

The one that had the most probable suspect was one that named the killer as a James Kelly who was an inmate in an asylum in London. He killed his wife. According to multiple accounts, he escaped the asylum and traveled to the US where there were a string of murders in various cities on the rail lines where the killer used the Ripper M.O. It supposedly matches his travel schedule. In the end, Kelly turned up at the asylum in London decades later and there is an account taken down by a psychiatrist or something like that. Why Scotland Yard would have any problem releasing the records at this date is anybody’s guess.

That's the suspect identified in 1997 by Ed Norris, and, yes, he's a reasonably credible suspect. But the problem is there are basically no official documents at all to confirm his movements after he escaped Broadmoor in January 1888 until 1896. Could he have been in London? Yes, he could have been. Is there any evidence that he was? None - except a supposed confession for which no evidence has been presented.

He was wanted for questioning at the time - the police would hardly ignore a known murderer who had escaped custody only a few months before the killings - but there's really no evidence at all one way or the other.

49 posted on 05/15/2011 9:13:05 PM PDT by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: Mr Ramsbotham

I’ve always liked Colin Wilson’s comment on the identity of Jack the Ripper. On Judgement Day, all the Ripper experts will assemble and with one voice call out for Jack the Ripper to step forward and identify himself - and when he does all the experts will say “Who on Earth are you?”


50 posted on 05/15/2011 9:17:11 PM PDT by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: All

Probably half of the democrat leaderships ancestors are on that list..


51 posted on 05/15/2011 9:19:16 PM PDT by uncle fenders
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To: combat_boots
Interesting comments.

I have this acquaintance who has seen the dead since she was a young child. She actually had a lot of issues growing up because she can see things that others can't.

A few weeks before the '08 election, I was talking to her and told her I was really concerned about the election. Now this friend is someone who is totally apolitical... I don't even know if she is registered to vote. She never talks about politics. She paused and then carefully asked me who I wanted to win. My answer was "anyone but Obama."

She made an odd sound and then said to me, "Whenever I see him on the television, I have to change the channel. I see really dark, sick stuff around him. I see like... flames... and really disturbing stuff that I don't normally see in people. He really scares the hell out of me." And then she paused again before saying, "Whoever he is, he is not who everyone thinks he is. And I'm afraid of what is going to happen when everyone finds out the truth."

Haven't spoken to her since she moved a while back, but I'd be really interested to hear what she has to say about him now.

52 posted on 05/15/2011 9:44:06 PM PDT by ponygirl
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To: ponygirl

He does have a dark, twisted vibe about him. Lady Gaga is another one. A kind of deadness you can’t put your finger on, something out of Lord of the Rings.


53 posted on 05/15/2011 9:47:28 PM PDT by Free Vulcan (.)
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To: ponygirl

Now that’s interesting and reminds me of my sainted mother, who was more ‘there’ than ‘here’ during the election season. One time, I was helping her walk to the kitchen, and she saw him come on TV. She hadn’t talked for several minutes, concentrating on walking, but she stopped, raised a crooked finger, pointed at the TV, and said, “That man scares me.” Mind you, she was not long for this world.

At the time, I wondered what she was really afraid of. Now, it chills me to the bone.

I am glad she’s not here to see all this.


54 posted on 05/15/2011 9:50:34 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto.)
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To: ponygirl

That totally creeped me out.


55 posted on 05/15/2011 9:50:52 PM PDT by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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To: All

I’ve been researching my family ancestry recently and found out the location they were living in was pretty darn close to Whitechapel and during the years he committed the murders. I was getting a little worried, as some “eyewitnesses” did say they saw a “Jew” with a couple of the girls before they were killed. I was then relieved to find out that great granpapa senior was at that point blind and Junior had already arrived at Ellis island By 1889. How creepy it is to think you could possibly be related to Jack the ripper, if even briefly.


56 posted on 05/15/2011 9:52:48 PM PDT by kelly4c
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To: naturalman1975
I've read a lot of the Ripper books and I can see no reason why they shouldn't release any and all information they have. The murders occurred over 120 years ago! First off, if they're worried about releasing information that they botched an investigation— well, we already know you didn't catch and prosecute a suspect! We know Scotland Yard wasn't what it is today in 1888, and modern crime scene investigation was hardly in existence. If it was any prominent individual, who cares, THEY ARE LONG DEAD!

Personally, I think it was probably an unknown local that blended in with the community and knew the alleys and backstreets and that's why he wasn't caught. Profilers tend to agree with this, that he was male, late 20’s, of Jewish decent, maybe a butcher or other type of skilled laborer that worked with knives and was definitely a sociopath. I do think it's interesting that the files in question cover 1888-1912, and wonder if 1912 could be a clue— did a probable suspect die in 1912? And yet the article mentions 4 new suspects, so were they even sure? I don't think it as the Duke of Clarence, but say he's mentioned in the report because his name was brought up because he was described as peculiar, ‘slow’, and possibly having died of syphilis. Doesn't make him a murderer but is may be considered embarrassing, but who really cares at this point?

I have my own suspect list but won't go in to all that now. I didn't mean to offend anyone that is Jewish; just saying that when the FBI profiler’s came up with their ideal suspect, based on what evidence there was and a possible eyewitness account, he was a poor Jewish immigrant to
Whitechapel.

57 posted on 05/15/2011 10:52:29 PM PDT by MacMattico
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To: naturalman1975
A recent special was very compelling in the claim the murderer was a German Sailor Carl Feigenbaum.

National Geographic ran the special in April. Trevor Marriott (retired english murder detective) laid out his case.
58 posted on 05/15/2011 11:07:09 PM PDT by PA Engineer (Time to beat the swords of government tyranny into the plowshares of freedom.)
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To: naturalman1975
Oops—sorry for all the typos, I need to go to bed. I guess my main point was I don't think it was a very prominent person or Royalty and the only way you could convince me it was is to prove the individual was very familiar with the slums of Whitechapel and was able to not stick out like a sore thumb like anyone from the upperclass would in 1888 Whitechapel. It would be interesting if it was, because there would be more records available to us today regarding that person if they held a prominent place in society.
59 posted on 05/15/2011 11:08:46 PM PDT by MacMattico
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To: PA Engineer
I don't necessarily agree with Marriott when he says that Elizabeth Stride and Mary Kelly weren't Ripper victims. The idea that the murderer was a sailor has been floated around before, with different names of sailors from different ships and even different countries coming up. If it was this Feigenbaum, what in the world is Scotland Yard trying to protect?
60 posted on 05/15/2011 11:20:58 PM PDT by MacMattico
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