Free Republic

New ID on Jack the Ripperby Standard ReporterCrime writer Patricia Cornwell claims to have unearthed proof that Jack the Ripper was in fact the painter Walter Sickert. The best-selling American novelist spent almost £3million in her investigation, flying US forensic experts to London to examine the notorious Ripper letters. She claims they bear the same distinctive water mark as Sickert's stationery. Ms Cornwell also bought 30 of the artist's works, ripping one of them up completely in her hunt for clues. Twenty years after the 1888 crimes Sickert painted a series of gruesome pictures of a murdered prostitute. Ms Cornwell ...

It is the greatest murder mystery of all time, a puzzle that has perplexed criminologists for more than a century and spawned books, films and myriad theories ranging from the plausible to the utterly bizarre. But now, thanks to modern forensic science, The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal the true identity of Jack the Ripper, the serial killer responsible for at least five grisly murders in Whitechapel in East London during the autumn of 1888. DNA evidence has now shown beyond reasonable doubt which one of six key suspects commonly cited in connection with the Ripper’s reign of terror...