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00:00The crime, a cold-blooded massacre, committed by the world's first modern serial killer.
00:15In 1888, Jack the Ripper terrorizes the city of London.
00:20He cruises the dark streets like a shark leisurely seeking its next victim.
00:24In his wake, the Ripper leaves the torn, mutilated bodies of five women.
00:32He was never caught.
00:36Now, over a century later, scientists reopen the case in the hunt for Jack the Ripper.
00:54The poor of Victorian London live desperate lives ruled by drink, disease, and violence.
01:23Especially vulnerable were the prostitutes who worked the streets of the East End,
01:27the haunting ground of the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper.
01:32He did more than murder his victims.
01:34He butchered them.
01:37Now, the unsolved case of Jack the Ripper is going under the microscope.
01:43All the things that we would do at a crime scene now, they weren't able to do then.
01:47They didn't have fingerprints, couldn't blood group, blood type.
01:50Can the application of modern forensic techniques and psychological profiling
01:55shed light on a case that's been cold for over a century?
02:01Laura Richards is a behavioral psychologist
02:04working with the Violent Crime Command at London's Scotland Yard.
02:08She's agreed to lift the facts of the original investigation into the 21st century
02:14for a thoroughly new kind of examination.
02:18Using cutting-edge technology, a team of experts will help her to analyze the clues.
02:23Geographic profiling, digital imaging, and the DNA analysis of evidence that's never been tested before
02:31will produce the most detailed picture yet of the man the police were after.
02:36Under investigation, where he lived, what he looked like, and how and why he killed.
02:42Jack the Ripper is a challenge for us.
02:45We don't understand why someone would want to eviscerate women in the matter that he did.
02:49We don't understand who he is.
02:53Laura Richards will reveal her theory of how one of history's most notorious murderers managed to escape justice.
03:02But she was my wife, Polly Nichols.
03:06She was my sister Annie, the widow of John Chapman.
03:10You've got an offender who's prolific, who's predatory, who's killing women.
03:17We lived together as man and wife.
03:19Her name was Liz Stride.
03:24They're not only killing them, he's mutilating them
03:26and leaving them out publicly displayed.
03:34Her name was Catherine Eddowes.
03:36To Laura Richards, investigating the case of Jack the Ripper is everything she's ever trained for.
03:43I think there are many features that really grip me about this particular case.
03:48Not only the fact that it happened in London.
03:50It's my home force, it's where I work.
03:52I think the vulnerability of the victims, you know, the way that they lived,
03:56the sadness of their lives, the way it began and the way that it also ended.
04:00Laura's expertise is behavioral analysis.
04:07Every single thing that a killer does reveals a clue about who he is.
04:12The Ripper's crimes are over a century old, but she can still decode them.
04:17For me, heading up the Homicide Prevention Unit, there are still valuable lessons to be learned.
04:22A good starting point for her investigation is where the Ripper chose to kill.
04:27This is probably the only serial killer case that I can think of,
04:31where you can walk all the crime scenes in less than two hours.
04:36All these crimes have occurred within one mile radius.
04:40He's chosen to go there. It's all through his choice.
04:44For some reason, this environment suited the Ripper's requirements.
04:48But was he what criminal psychologists call a marauder, attacking within his own community?
04:55Or was he a poacher, someone who comes from outside to hunt?
05:00A mapping technique called geographic profiling may hold the answer.
05:05It helps law enforcement agencies around the world to interpret crime scene locations.
05:10Geo-profiling was invented by ex-cop and mathematician Dr. Kim Rosmo of the University of Texas.
05:19He's realized that it's possible to use crime locations to identify where a perpetrator has his base.
05:26Most criminals operate out of their home in terms of their search for criminal targets.
05:31Criminals commit crimes close to where they live, but not too close.
05:36They're affected by concerns over anonymity and not wanting to hunt in an area where they might be identified.
05:43Dr. Rosmo uses a formula based on data from dozens of solved cases.
05:49It interprets crime sites and key features of the area, homes, roads, and public spaces.
05:54We use a computer program to do upwards of a million calculations to determine the most likely area.
06:02It produces a map where color indicates probability.
06:06The offender's home is least likely to be in the black areas and most likely to be in the red.
06:13The Ripper operated within one square mile in an area of London called Whitechapel.
06:17Dr. Rosmo hopes to pinpoint the very street where the police of 1888 ought to have started their hunt.
06:24For the world's most infamous serial killer, Jack the Ripper.
06:36In the new search for Jack the Ripper's identity, Laura Richards must focus on the victim's stories.
06:42What do we actually know about what's going on?
06:45And therefore, what can we infer about the offender?
06:48Without getting involved with anything around suspects, working it as we would do any normal case.
06:54The goal is a complete psychological examination of the killer.
06:58For this, the starting point is what Laura calls victimology.
07:02You get to the killer by understanding his victims.
07:05If you find out how someone lived, it may give you a clue as to how they died.
07:11There were five known Ripper victims, beginning with Polly Nichols.
07:1543 years old, grown-up children, separated from her husband.
07:23With no permanent home, she was often on the streets.
07:27Polly was also an alcoholic.
07:29She got drunk every time I took her back.
07:33That's why I had to leave her altogether.
07:34To understand how the Ripper's reign of terror began, Laura wants to visit the original crime scene in East London.
07:49The picture paints a thousand words, but going to a scene paints a million, and that's a really important part of what I do.
07:55This is Buck's Row.
07:58This is where the first of the murders took place, the murder of Polly Nichols, in the early hours of the 31st of August, 1888.
08:07Ripper expert Don Rumbelow knows these streets well.
08:10He was a beat officer with the City of London Police.
08:18Buck's Row lies in the heart of London's East End.
08:22And of all the five murder sites, only this one still looks similar.
08:27Well, the old schoolhouse behind us, this was here in 1888, but the street itself was just a row of small terraced houses.
08:35She was lying in the stable gateway here.
08:37It was very gloomy, and the only light was at the far end of the street.
08:40Feet this end, head that way.
08:45And who actually found her?
08:47The body was found by two men on their way to work, Charles Cross and John Paul.
08:51Cross was the first to see her. He thought it was a tarpaulin in the road.
08:54It was only when he moved across that he actually saw that it was a body.
09:00It wasn't until the body was examined in the mortuary that it was discovered that she had these large gashes to the abdomen.
09:07There was one sort of large gash about sort of six or eight inches in length, another gash on the other side.
09:13But there were cross cuts as well.
09:16Polly's injuries revealed that this murder wasn't just about the act of killing.
09:21Her sexual organs were mutilated.
09:24Is it about just killing the victim and then leaving, so it's all about the kill?
09:30Or is it about other behaviors that he wants to carry out on the victim?
09:35The nature and the intensity of the attack exposes clues about the killer's state of mind.
09:45She wasn't raped, but we can't rule out the fact that it's a sexually motivated crime.
09:50And that kind of level of violent behavior, he may well have been sexually quite high at the time.
09:57And I believe what we're looking at with Jack the Ripper is a sexual homicide.
10:02The sexual motive tells Laura that this must have been the work of a man.
10:06But she needs to understand what drew the killer specifically to Polly Nichols.
10:11Of course, investigating a case that's more than 100 years old presents its own challenge.
10:16These crimes took place in a world that doesn't exist anymore.
10:19If Laura's going to understand Polly Nichols' circumstances, she's going to need to build a picture of Whitechapel,
10:30the square mile of East London that was Polly's home, and the Ripper's killing ground.
10:38So why was Polly at Bucks Row?
10:41Probably looking for a customer.
10:43She'd had three customers that day, but she'd spent the money on gin.
10:47So she was a prostitute?
10:48She was a prostitute, and she felt she was going to get another customer.
10:52She was going to get a fourth customer because she got a new hat,
10:54and she thought she was looking very attractive.
10:56She was drunk, but she thought she was looking very attractive.
11:00Sex workers, prostitutes, tend to be more often than not the victim of crime
11:06because of availability and opportunity.
11:10Polly Nichols' lifestyle made her vulnerable.
11:13And in the single square mile covered by the Whitechapel district,
11:19there were as many as 5,000 sex workers.
11:23Now, to give you some ideas for values,
11:26imagine these women are prostituting themselves for tuppence,
11:29threppence, or a loaf of stale bread.
11:32Even in those days, two or three pennies was a pitiful sum.
11:38Jack the Ripper may have lived in this community.
11:42But who was he?
11:45Amid endless speculation, over 200 suspects have been named.
11:50And still, the case has never been solved.
11:52The mystery continues to intrigue experts to this day.
11:59The police of Victorian London were certain
12:01that these were the crimes of a madman.
12:04A harmless mental patient called Aaron Kosminski
12:07became a prime suspect
12:08because he claimed to hear voices and ate from the gutter.
12:14Later came the conspiracy theories.
12:17Was the killer perhaps Prince Albert Edward,
12:19Queen Victoria's grandson, and the heir to the throne?
12:24Complete pack of nonsense.
12:26Alibi for every night in question, virtually.
12:30Was it Queen Victoria's physician, William Gull?
12:35Every time this nonsense has to be cleared away.
12:38And yet it still doesn't stop people
12:39from pushing more and more suspects forward.
12:42The name Jack the Ripper sold newspapers.
12:45So the press turned him into a legend.
12:47Hunt the Ripper became a game.
12:49One the police couldn't win.
12:52After four unsuccessful years,
12:54the investigation was closed.
12:56The first modern serial killer went undetected.
13:01Over 100 years later, Laura picks up the trail.
13:05Next, she takes a look at the circumstances
13:07of the second killing.
13:09It happened nine days after Polly's body was found
13:12and only half a mile away in Hanbury Street.
13:15The victim's name was Annie Chapman.
13:19In 1888, this building, Shoreditch Town Hall,
13:25housed a coroner's court where the gruesome details
13:28of the Ripper's crimes were heard.
13:33Laura has come here to talk to Neil Sheldon.
13:37He's studied the victims' lives
13:39and thinks Annie Chapman's life was on a downward spiral.
13:43Could you just tell me a bit more about that, Neil?
13:46Yes, they all come from very ordinary working-class backgrounds.
13:49Only Annie Chapman possibly came from slightly better-off backgrounds.
13:53Her husband died 18 months ago now.
13:57After that, she rather gave up.
14:00They lived a very ordinary life together.
14:05John had got some work with a gentleman in Bond Street.
14:10He'd worked for us as a coachman.
14:12But unfortunately, Annie had apparently been stealing from this person
14:16and so they lost their jobs.
14:19At this time, it was more than likely that they had started to drink.
14:23She'd certainly had enough that night.
14:28Right, so that was quite typical.
14:29We certainly know that she was also a commercial sex worker or a prostitute.
14:34Yes, she resorted to that on occasions, yes.
14:36The yard where Annie was killed doesn't exist anymore.
14:44In order to understand what happened here,
14:46Laura wants to recreate the crime scene.
14:49She consults photographs and contemporary drawings.
14:54A mannequin is positioned how the body was found.
14:59Imagine that this is 29 Hanbury Street
15:02and behind us is a row of three-storey Victorian terraced houses.
15:11At around 6 a.m. on the morning of September 8th,
15:14John Davies, a wagon driver, came down the stairs of number 29.
15:19He was leaving for work.
15:20He spotted the back door slightly ajar
15:23and went to investigate.
15:25The head was six inches in front of the bottom step.
15:36The left arm lay across the left breast.
15:40The legs were drawn up,
15:43the feet resting on the ground
15:45and the knees turned outward.
15:49My initial thoughts on this scene
15:51are that it's not too dissimilar from Polly Nichols,
15:53the way that the victim has been left,
15:55certainly in an exposed way.
16:01Annie Chapman's neck was cut so deeply
16:04that her head was almost severed.
16:08Part of her uterus was missing.
16:10Her intestines had been pulled out
16:12and thrown upwards over her left shoulder.
16:15One witness to the scene
16:17described its sickening effect.
16:18Every person who had seen the body
16:22looked afraid,
16:23as if they wanted to run away.
16:26The police of 1888
16:28thought they were looking for an obvious lunatic,
16:30someone more animal than man.
16:32But the killer Laura sees
16:33doesn't fit any of the stereotypes.
16:36The off-the-shelf profile would state
16:38that this offender
16:39has low interpersonal skills,
16:41cannot communicate with women,
16:43would not have a relationship with women.
16:44I just don't buy into that.
16:46That's not something that I've seen
16:49over the ten years
16:50of working violent crime.
16:52A lot of these offenders
16:53do have relationships with women.
16:57To Laura,
16:59the point when sex became murder
17:00is when the killer revealed
17:02most about himself.
17:06It appears that the Ripper
17:08managed to conceal his true intentions
17:10until the last second.
17:12And by then,
17:13it was too late.
17:14In order to build
17:25a psychological profile
17:27of Jack the Ripper,
17:28Laura Richards needs to analyze
17:30the specifics of his kills.
17:33Violence is a choice.
17:34He's chosen to do that,
17:36to express himself in that way.
17:39And in the cold light of day,
17:40we're trying to make sense
17:41of what he's done.
17:43She turns to Dr. Peter Dean.
17:45He's a coroner
17:46and a police surgeon
17:47for a division of London
17:48that includes Whitechapel.
17:50If the Ripper struck today,
17:52it would be in Dr. Dean's precinct.
17:55As an expert witness,
17:56his job
17:57is the interpretation
17:58of wounds.
18:00By precise analysis
18:02of each murder,
18:03Dr. Dean is able
18:04to build a picture
18:05of how the Ripper
18:06claimed his victims.
18:07He breaks an attack down
18:09into distinct phases,
18:10controlling,
18:12killing,
18:13and mutilating.
18:14In a sense,
18:14he's got three things to do,
18:16and the first two
18:17have to be achieved
18:17quite quickly.
18:19He's got to overpower
18:20the victim.
18:21In a short space of time.
18:23In a very short space of time.
18:24And the evidence seems to be,
18:25certainly for some of the murders,
18:27that he did that by asphyxiation.
18:29Certainly in the Annie Chapman situation,
18:32where the police surgeon,
18:33Dr. George Baxter Phillips,
18:34describes the body.
18:35He describes this body
18:37with this swollen tongue
18:38and the appearance of somebody
18:39who's been asphyxiated.
18:40The obsession that surrounds
18:42the Ripper murders
18:43centers on the mutilations.
18:45But contrary to what
18:46most people assume,
18:47this was not the way
18:48he killed victims.
18:50He strangled them first.
18:52I know from a lot of my work,
18:54it's actually quite hard
18:55to kill a victim
18:56using manual strangulation.
18:58Yeah.
18:59If you're talking about
18:59a purely asphyxial process,
19:01it takes time,
19:02it takes force.
19:03If they're not already
19:04dead from asphyxia,
19:05he's confirming it
19:06with a cutthroat.
19:07And then,
19:08whilst they're on the ground,
19:09he then does the mutilations
19:10and what he's now
19:12become infamous for,
19:13the rippings.
19:14Absolutely.
19:16The killing
19:16was simply a means
19:18to an end.
19:19The cutting
19:20was his goal.
19:21His excitement
19:22and gratification.
19:25How much blood
19:26would Jack the Ripper
19:27have had on him?
19:29Clearly,
19:29with eviscerations like this,
19:30it's a bloody business
19:32from that point of view.
19:33If, though,
19:34they've actually been killed,
19:35asphyxiated,
19:37before he then
19:38cuts the throat,
19:39there'll be relatively
19:39less bleeding
19:40from that point of view.
19:42Because the hearts
19:42stop pumping.
19:43Absolutely.
19:44So you've not got
19:45blood and arterial pressure
19:46pumping out.
19:47And it's a late-night
19:48situation that he's working in.
19:50If he's got a dark
19:51coat on him,
19:52again,
19:52that's going to cover a lot.
19:54He's got more of a chance
19:55of blending in
19:56as he makes his escape.
19:59This MO
20:00meant massacre
20:01without excessive
20:02blood spatter.
20:04After two similar killings
20:06in the space of a month,
20:08the government
20:08and the people of London
20:09realized that they were
20:10dealing with something
20:11extremely disturbing.
20:13They waited fearfully
20:14for his next strike.
20:16What they could not know
20:19is that he would take
20:20his next two victims
20:21within the space
20:22of an hour
20:23and leave behind
20:25a trail of evidence
20:26that can still be followed
20:27more than a century later.
20:30To Laura,
20:30the amount of time
20:31that's passed
20:31is irrelevant.
20:33She approaches
20:33the Ripper case
20:34with the same tools
20:35that she would use
20:36if she were assisting police
20:37in a modern-day murder case.
20:42She receives a visit
20:43from her old mentor,
20:45John Greve.
20:46He retired
20:46from the Metropolitan Police
20:48in 2002
20:49as one of London's
20:50most senior
20:51and respected policemen.
20:53He's tackled
20:54some of the most
20:54notorious manhunts
20:55in the history
20:56of the city.
20:57He's also an expert
20:59on the Ripper case
21:00and brings news
21:01of a new development
21:02in the story.
21:03It relates to
21:04Jack's fourth victim,
21:06Catherine Eddowes.
21:08A piece of physical evidence
21:09appears to have survived
21:10from the case.
21:12Someone has come forward
21:13claiming to own
21:14a piece of clothing,
21:15a shawl
21:16that was removed
21:16from Eddowes' body.
21:20A team of forensic scientists
21:22have taken samples.
21:24The authenticity
21:24of the shawl
21:25is not certain.
21:26It belongs
21:27to the descendants
21:28of a policeman
21:28who attended the scene.
21:31The shawl
21:32was first put on display
21:33at the Crime Museum
21:34in New Scotland Yard
21:35in 1997
21:36and is now owned
21:38by a private collector.
21:40If it's genuine,
21:41it is the only physical link
21:43to the Ripper crimes.
21:45So there is
21:46what is said
21:47to be Catherine Eddowes'
21:49sure.
21:49Well,
21:50if we don't do a test
21:51on it,
21:52we won't know
21:53whether we can match
21:54some of the DNA
21:56to some of her
21:57surviving relatives.
21:5821st century science
22:02may be about
22:03to reveal
22:0319th century DNA,
22:06but they'll need
22:07something to compare it to,
22:08and there's been
22:09a development here
22:10as well.
22:12Catherine Eddowes'
22:12descendants
22:13have been traced
22:14and contacted.
22:15They've agreed
22:16to provide
22:16their own DNA.
22:17As long as
22:21that shawl
22:22has never been
22:23anywhere near
22:23the family,
22:25if you can just
22:25prove that distance,
22:27then you might
22:28be able to prove
22:28that that was
22:29in fact
22:29Catherine Eddowes'
22:30shawl.
22:31You don't know
22:32until you test it.
22:36It's a tantalizing
22:37prospect.
22:39If modern-day
22:40scientists
22:41can find
22:42Catherine Eddowes'
22:43DNA
22:44on the shawl,
22:46there is a
22:46possibility
22:47they might find
22:48the Ripper's
22:49DNA there, too.
22:59Catherine Eddowes
23:00was killed
23:01in the early hours
23:02of September 30th,
23:031888.
23:05Ripper experts
23:05refer to this date
23:06as the double event
23:08because another woman
23:09was also murdered,
23:11Liz Stride.
23:12This is the most
23:13well-documented night
23:15of the Ripper's
23:15homicidal career.
23:17Using police records,
23:19witness statements,
23:20and testimony
23:20from the coroner's court,
23:22it's possible
23:22to construct
23:23a precise timeline
23:24of what happened
23:26where.
23:27Laura's going to pool
23:28her expertise
23:28with John Greaves.
23:30He's handled dozens
23:31of difficult police
23:32investigations.
23:33Together,
23:34they will walk through
23:34the events
23:35as they unfolded,
23:36tracking Liz Stride
23:37and Catherine Eddowes
23:38through their final hours.
23:40At 8 o'clock
23:42on the morning
23:43of September 29th,
23:44Catherine Eddowes
23:45was seen
23:46leaving a pawnbroker's shop.
23:48She'd hocked
23:48a pair of work boots
23:49belonging to her partner,
23:51John Kelly.
23:52She got two shillings
23:53and sixpence,
23:54and she spent it all
23:55on food.
23:57That certainly
23:57tells me something
23:58about total poverty
24:00if you're having
24:00to sell your shoes.
24:02Well,
24:02is he going to get
24:02his boots back
24:03to go back to work
24:04on Monday morning?
24:06Where's she going
24:07to get two and sixpence
24:08from?
24:11It's known
24:11Catherine Eddowes
24:12worked as a prostitute,
24:14and it's clear
24:14she found more money
24:16that night
24:16because she started
24:17drinking heavily.
24:21Police reports
24:22place her
24:23in Aldgate High Street
24:24at 6 p.m.
24:26She's blind drunk,
24:28which renders
24:28her vulnerable,
24:29which again
24:30is her third time
24:32that that's actually
24:33happened across
24:34these particular cases.
24:37A mile away,
24:38Liz Stride
24:39has been drinking too.
24:41She was spotted
24:42at the Queen's Head
24:43Public House
24:44and later
24:45at the bar
24:45of the Bricklayer's Arms.
24:47There wasn't
24:48a great deal else
24:50for them to do,
24:50quite frankly,
24:51was there?
24:52Just drinking sex
24:53and that's about it.
24:56Like Catherine,
24:57Elizabeth Stride
24:58was a sex worker.
24:59She was born in 1843
25:01in Sweden,
25:03but much of her story
25:04is confused
25:05because Liz told lies
25:06about her past.
25:09She told me
25:10that she'd been married
25:11and that her husband
25:12died when the
25:12Princess Alice sank.
25:14It wasn't true.
25:188 p.m.
25:19and according
25:20to the custody records
25:21of Bishopsgate Police Station,
25:23Catherine Eddowes
25:24was arrested
25:24for being drunk
25:25and incapable.
25:26These two victims
25:28and the, you know,
25:29almost parallel lives
25:31in the sense
25:31in a very similar
25:32geographic area,
25:34both sex workers,
25:35lots of people
25:36out that night.
25:37Why them?
25:39Liz Stride
25:40and I lived together
25:40as man and wife.
25:42She was a very quiet
25:42and sober woman.
25:43Not true,
25:46according to witnesses
25:47who saw Liz Stride
25:48that evening.
25:49At 11 p.m.,
25:51she was seen
25:51in the doorway
25:52of a pub
25:52with an unidentified man.
25:55In fact,
25:56she was spotted
25:56with three different men
25:58over the course
25:58of the next couple of hours.
26:00At around 12.45 a.m.,
26:04James Brown,
26:04a dock worker,
26:05was returning home
26:06when he saw Liz
26:07with a man
26:08about five feet
26:09seven inches tall,
26:11stocky
26:11and wearing
26:12a long overcoat.
26:13He appeared
26:13to be standing
26:14in her way
26:15and Brown,
26:16who would later
26:16identify Stride's body,
26:18heard her speak.
26:19Not tonight,
26:20maybe some other night.
26:23You've got a series
26:24of descriptions of men.
26:26It could be
26:27a series of different men.
26:28It could be a series
26:28of different descriptions
26:29of the same man.
26:31I think certainly
26:32being a sex worker,
26:33you know,
26:33it's a high-risk activity
26:35in itself.
26:35It does render
26:36victims vulnerable,
26:38but it does equally
26:39cause a lot of complications
26:40at the stage
26:42of a major inquiry.
26:44But if you put together
26:44everything that we know
26:46about what the witnesses
26:48have got to say,
26:49then you can come up
26:50with a composite picture.
26:53John decides
26:54to follow the same procedure
26:55he would use
26:56in a modern murder hunt.
26:58He's going to collate
26:59all the descriptions
27:00given by witnesses
27:02to provide an image
27:03of the suspect,
27:05an image that may have
27:06helped the police
27:06to catch him in 1888
27:08before he killed again.
27:19Catherine Eddowes,
27:20who was destined
27:21to become the fourth victim
27:22of Jack the Ripper,
27:23spent until 1 a.m.
27:24on September 30th, 1888,
27:26safely locked up
27:27in Bishopsgate Police Station.
27:31Eventually,
27:32the duty officer
27:33judged her sober enough
27:34to be released,
27:35and she set out
27:36back towards Aldgate
27:37in East London.
27:42The sad thing is,
27:43and I dare say,
27:44they did notice it,
27:46that they'd released her
27:47at a time and place
27:49when the hunter
27:50was out
27:51looking for his next victim.
27:59He had already found
28:00Liz Shride.
28:01Her body lay
28:02in Burner Street.
28:04When it was discovered
28:05at 12.45 a.m.,
28:06it was still warm.
28:08The river
28:09had disappeared
28:10into the surrounding maze
28:11of dark streets.
28:13The cut to the throat
28:14which killed her
28:15was still bleeding.
28:16She had died
28:17less than five minutes before
28:19from this single wound.
28:21There was nothing else,
28:22no mutilation.
28:24The discoverers
28:25have actually disturbed
28:26the murderer.
28:28They've turned into the yard
28:29and disturbed the murderer
28:31at his work.
28:34The people who disturbed
28:36the Ripper
28:36weren't quick enough
28:37to save Liz Shride's life.
28:39They may have also
28:41unwittingly sealed
28:42Catherine Eddow's fate.
28:43The offender feels
28:46they have to do,
28:46they have to complete,
28:47they have to satiate
28:48some particular need.
28:50He's probably pumped up
28:51with adrenaline
28:51on the hunt
28:53and on the prowl
28:54for the next person
28:55to make damn sure
28:56this time
28:57he's going to get
28:57that opportunity
28:58and he's going to see
28:59the offence through,
29:01complete it.
29:04The Ripper was in
29:05Burner Street
29:06around 1 a.m.
29:07and then he went west
29:09to Mitre Square.
29:10He arrived there
29:15no later than 1.30 a.m.
29:16because when the body
29:17of Catherine Eddow's
29:18was found at 1.45,
29:20it was obvious
29:21he had spent
29:22some time with it.
29:24Catherine Eddow's body
29:25suffered much greater
29:27violation
29:27than the previous
29:28three victims.
29:30It could be through
29:31anger of the first
29:32bungled attempt.
29:34Ultimately,
29:34he only knows
29:36what was his state
29:37of mind at that time.
29:38perhaps she has been
29:39non-compliant
29:40so he's done
29:41something more
29:41personal to her
29:42in terms of
29:43slashing her face,
29:44cutting off her nose.
29:48The Ripper is placed
29:49in a third location
29:51that night.
29:52At 2.55 a.m.,
29:55P.C. Alfred Long
29:56was conducting a search
29:57in Goldston Street.
29:59He spotted some graffiti
30:00and then,
30:01directly beneath it,
30:03a piece of
30:03bloodied cloth.
30:05It had been cut
30:06from Eddow's apron.
30:08It's probably
30:09the only thing
30:09we know
30:10for absolute certain
30:11that the murderer
30:12took from one scene
30:14and put somewhere else.
30:18From one place
30:19to the next.
30:21In Burner Street,
30:22he'd been interrupted.
30:24He started hunting again
30:26and found Catherine Eddow's
30:27in Mitre Square.
30:29The find in
30:30Goulston Street
30:31shows he then
30:32changed direction.
30:34His work was done.
30:35The night was over.
30:36So where was he heading?
30:38Was he making
30:39his way home?
30:41How close did he live
30:42to the crime scenes?
30:45One week later,
30:46a letter was delivered
30:47to a Mr. George Lusk.
30:49He was chairman
30:50of the Whitechapel
30:51Vigilance Committee,
30:52a group of local men
30:53who patrolled the streets
30:54trying to catch
30:55the Ripper.
30:59The letter was headed
31:00from hell.
31:02It arrived
31:03with half a human kidney.
31:06Mr. Lusk, sir,
31:08I sent you half a kidney
31:09I took from one woman
31:10and preserved it for you.
31:13It's other piece
31:13I fried and ate.
31:15It was very nice.
31:16I may send you
31:17the bloody knife
31:18that took it out
31:19if you only wait
31:20a while longer.
31:22Signed,
31:23Catch Me When You Can,
31:24Mr. Lusk.
31:25The police and the newspapers
31:29received hundreds
31:30of hoax messages
31:31claiming to be sent
31:32from the killer,
31:34but none
31:35with the same credibility
31:36as this letter
31:37thanks to some
31:38medical analysis.
31:40This was a kidney
31:41which showed signs
31:42of Bright's disease,
31:43which was a disease
31:44of the kidney
31:44that Catherine Eddowes
31:46was said to have
31:46suffered from.
31:47The length of renal
31:48artery on the kidney
31:49corresponded with the length
31:51remaining in Catherine
31:52Eddowes' body.
31:53Now, if all of these
31:54accounts were true,
31:55then this clearly gives
31:56a lot more credibility
31:57to the Lusk letter.
31:59What does the letter
32:00reveal about its author?
32:02One theory claims
32:03it's a trick,
32:04that the Ripper
32:05is really an educated man
32:07trying to put people
32:08off the scent
32:08by appearing
32:09only semi-literate.
32:11Laura asks forensic linguist
32:14Dr. Frances Rock
32:15for her expert opinion.
32:17She specializes
32:17in the analysis
32:18of this kind of text.
32:20What does it possibly
32:21tell us about the offender?
32:22There are words
32:24that are interesting
32:25like two words
32:26that have ease,
32:27as we might see
32:28from the modern eye,
32:28missing from the end,
32:30knife and while.
32:34They look like mistakes
32:35to us now,
32:35but at the time
32:36maybe this author
32:37wasn't aware
32:38that this was wrong.
32:40We can't use this letter
32:41to identify
32:41one definite author.
32:43But we can make
32:44all sorts of observations
32:46which may help us
32:47to think about
32:48who the killer
32:48might have been.
32:49It's unlikely
32:50that the writer
32:51of this letter
32:52would have necessarily
32:53had a full education.
32:54The analysis reveals
32:56nothing new.
32:57The obvious explanation
32:58is the likely one.
33:00The author
33:00was poorly educated.
33:02But for Laura,
33:04the text offers
33:05two revelatory clues
33:06for her psychological profile
33:08of the Ripper.
33:09The reference
33:10to cannibalism
33:10and the choice
33:11of local man
33:12George Lusk
33:13as recipient.
33:14I've dealt with
33:16only two cases
33:17in ten years
33:18where there's been
33:19cannibalism
33:19where an organ's
33:20been taken
33:21with the intent
33:22of actually frying it
33:24and then eating it.
33:26Perhaps that's something
33:27that he wants people
33:27to believe
33:28that that's what he's done
33:29to instill more terror
33:30and create that real impact
33:33on the local community.
33:38Unlike the hoax letters,
33:40this one wasn't sent
33:41to the government
33:41or to the press.
33:42Jack the Ripper
33:44wasn't seeking
33:45national notoriety.
33:47He sent it
33:48to a local community leader.
33:50His attention
33:51was focused
33:51not on the world at large
33:53but on Whitechapel.
33:55All the evidence
33:56points one way
33:58towards the idea
33:59that the Ripper
33:59was a local.
34:01Can science
34:02sniff him out?
34:11Jack the Ripper's
34:12fifth murder
34:12was the most horrific.
34:15On the morning
34:16of November 9th, 1888,
34:18Thomas Bowyer
34:19went to Miller's court
34:20in Whitechapel
34:21to collect rent
34:22from one of his tenants.
34:24He got no answer
34:25so he peered
34:26through the window.
34:27Later,
34:28he would tell the press
34:29that what he'd seen
34:30was the work
34:31of the devil.
34:34The door
34:35to Mary Kelly's lodgings
34:36was locked.
34:46Pieces of her
34:46lay around the room.
34:51Not much is known
34:52about her life.
34:53She was younger
34:54than the other victims,
34:55around 25,
34:57and she was pretty,
34:58although no photograph
35:00of her in life
35:01exists.
35:02She was a prostitute,
35:04but she was the only one
35:05of the Ripper's victims
35:06to have a permanent address
35:08and the only one
35:10to be killed indoors.
35:13What he did to her
35:14was perhaps
35:15the most extreme
35:16kind of violence
35:17that it's possible
35:18to inflict
35:19on a human body.
35:21The face is gashed
35:22beyond all recognition,
35:24the nose,
35:25cheeks,
35:26eyebrows,
35:27and ears
35:27being partially removed.
35:30He may have spent
35:31hours with the body.
35:34Perhaps it's just
35:34that he's comfortable
35:35in the area,
35:37you know,
35:37that he's operating within
35:39and he's managed
35:40to control her
35:41quite quickly
35:41and then he can do
35:42whatever are the things
35:44that he wants to do
35:45derived from his own
35:46fantasy base.
35:48Both breasts
35:50have been removed
35:51by more or less
35:52circular incisions.
35:54the heart
35:56is absent.
35:59Most experts agree
36:01that this was the last
36:02of Jack the Ripper's murders.
36:04After Mary Kelly,
36:05he stopped
36:06for reasons
36:07that have never
36:08been explained.
36:11Laura has now studied
36:12all five killings.
36:15The DNA tests,
36:17the geoprofiling,
36:19the computer-generated image
36:21of the Ripper's face,
36:22the results are all in
36:23and ready for analysis.
36:25How close can she come
36:26to unmasking him?
36:33First, the shawl,
36:34said to have been owned
36:35by fourth victim,
36:36Catherine Eddowes.
36:38Were the scientists
36:39able to recover any DNA?
36:42Their goal was a long shot,
36:45more than a century
36:46after the murders,
36:47to collect forensic evidence
36:48directly linked
36:49to the Ripper
36:50and his victim.
36:51And they were unlucky.
36:52The test revealed
36:54no DNA.
36:56Well, they haven't
36:56got anything useful.
36:58There's nothing
36:58we could use
36:59either evidentially
37:01or even from
37:02an intelligence point of view.
37:03So there's nothing
37:04helpful out of the DNA
37:05and there isn't likely
37:06to be.
37:07So that line
37:08is pretty much closed.
37:11All the physical evidence
37:13has gone
37:13or been contaminated
37:15beyond use.
37:16yet there's still
37:19plenty of evidence
37:19which doesn't decay.
37:21The witness statements.
37:23John has re-examined them.
37:26There's a popular
37:28misconception
37:29that nobody ever saw
37:31the murderer here
37:32and he just vanished
37:33into the fog of London.
37:35Well, that's just not right.
37:36There were witnesses
37:37who were taught highly of
37:39at the time
37:40by the police.
37:41Thirteen people
37:42gave descriptions
37:43to the police
37:44of men seen
37:45near the crime scenes
37:46or with the victims
37:47just before the murders.
37:49Of course,
37:50there's problems
37:50with eyewitnesses
37:52and there are problems
37:53with these eyewitnesses.
37:55Some of the statements
37:56are conflicting,
37:58clearly describing
37:59different people.
38:00But many of them
38:03are similar enough
38:04that they could well
38:05be talking
38:05about the same man.
38:10We could pull together
38:11all these descriptions
38:12and you could come up
38:14with a composite.
38:16Working with the data
38:17from these statements
38:18and police reports,
38:20a digital artist
38:21has produced an e-fit
38:22just like in a modern
38:23criminal case.
38:2625 to 35 years of age.
38:305 foot 5 inches
38:31to 5 foot 7 inches tall.
38:36This is the face
38:37of the killer,
38:39the man that the police
38:39of 1888
38:40should have been
38:41hunting down.
38:43This physical profile
38:45can now be paired
38:46with Laura's
38:47psychological portrait.
38:49It appears that this man
38:50was not the criminal
38:51mastermind of legend.
38:53He's certainly
38:54no Einstein.
38:56We know that he's
38:57a risk taker.
38:58He's impulsively
38:58irresponsible,
38:59but this is someone
39:00who hasn't been detected
39:02and you can say
39:0280% of that's probably
39:04due to chance
39:05and luck
39:06and 20% may be down
39:07to his tactical planning
39:09around what he's done.
39:11And yet,
39:12he's clever enough
39:12to evaluate his risks.
39:14He also knows
39:17how to get out
39:18or leave the scene
39:19when things get
39:20too risky.
39:21We equally know
39:22that he's determined.
39:24You know,
39:24we've got two attacks,
39:25a double event
39:25in one night.
39:26He hasn't attacked
39:27Liz Stride,
39:28bungled it
39:29and decided
39:30things are too risky.
39:31He's actually gone
39:32a mile away
39:33and attacked
39:33someone else.
39:35The man she describes
39:36has social skills
39:38and effectively targets
39:39his female victims.
39:40He would probably
39:42be quite
39:43a manipulative individual.
39:45He'd probably,
39:46you know,
39:46have the ability
39:48to lie
39:49quite convincingly.
39:51You know,
39:51probably come across
39:52on a superficial level
39:54as being charming.
39:56He could get away
39:57with it to a degree,
39:58which doesn't rule him
39:59out of having
40:00short-term relationships
40:02with females.
40:03But beneath the surface,
40:06no conscience.
40:10I think he'd certainly
40:11have a lack of empathy
40:13or remorse
40:14or levels of guilt
40:15about what he's done.
40:17I don't think
40:17he would be bothered.
40:18He certainly seems
40:20to see the victims
40:20as objects.
40:22It's the combination
40:23of these characteristics,
40:25charm,
40:26determination
40:26and a ruthlessness
40:28hidden by the ability
40:29to blend in
40:30that makes him
40:31so dangerous.
40:33The key point
40:34is if he was so obvious
40:35he would have been
40:35put into the inquiry
40:36time and time again
40:37by lots of different people.
40:40This guy,
40:40you know,
40:40he'd be unassuming,
40:42he'd be inoffensive
40:43and he'd be right
40:44under their noses.
40:46Can new scientific techniques
40:48pinpoint where he lived?
40:53Geographic profiler
40:54Dr. Kim Rossmo
40:55has looked at the case
40:56and he now thinks
40:57he can identify
40:58the street
40:59where the killer
40:59was most likely
41:00to have lived.
41:01His geoprofiling
41:02system has been deployed
41:04by police forces
41:05around the world
41:06to track and catch
41:07serial offenders.
41:08He's run the five
41:09Ripper sites through it
41:10and created a 3D map.
41:13The peaks colored red
41:14indicate the hot zone
41:15where Jack the Ripper
41:16may have lived.
41:18And I can see
41:18that the peak area
41:20where the profile
41:20is falling on
41:21covers Flower and Dean Street,
41:23Fashion Street,
41:24Thrall Street,
41:26here in the center
41:27of Whitechapel.
41:29Should the police
41:30have been concentrating
41:31their efforts here
41:32on Flower and Dean Street?
41:35Only a short stretch
41:36of it survives.
41:38It's changed completely
41:39since 1888.
41:41But census records
41:42reveal what kind
41:43of place it was,
41:44one of the worst
41:45of London's ghettos,
41:47packed with its
41:47poorest citizens.
41:50The geographic profile
41:51deduces that Jack the Ripper
41:53lived here
41:54amongst his victims.
41:55It's based purely
41:58on where the five women
41:59were killed.
42:01But it fits in perfectly
42:02with the victimology,
42:03the story of their lives.
42:07In the year before
42:09the murders,
42:10each of them lived
42:11within 100 yards
42:12of this street.
42:14The police were so close.
42:17They actually conducted
42:18house-to-house inquiries
42:19here after the Eddowes murder.
42:21No records survive
42:25of who they talked to.
42:26But Laura believes
42:27that the Ripper
42:28would have been interviewed
42:29and discounted.
42:31I would expect there
42:32to be some form of contact
42:34between Jack the Ripper
42:35and the police.
42:36Many times I've heard
42:37officers say,
42:39I will know him
42:39when I see him.
42:41But in all those times,
42:43it has never been correct
42:44because the offender
42:45isn't ever
42:46what they perceived
42:47him to be.
42:48He's someone
42:48who's been totally overlooked
42:50by very virtue of the fact
42:51he's so ordinary
42:52and so mundane.
42:53And I think that's
42:54the whole point here.
42:56He's committed
42:57an extraordinary
42:58set of offenses,
42:59but he's probably
43:00quite an ordinary guy.
43:03Modern science
43:04has opened
43:04an incredible window
43:06on his identity
43:07and where he may have lived
43:08and proven
43:09that if the police
43:10of the time
43:11had techniques
43:12available today,
43:13Jack the Ripper
43:14may have been stopped
43:15before one murder
43:16became five.
43:17For somebody
43:20who's sitting
43:21in the investigating
43:22officer's chair,
43:23if he'd had
43:24all the information
43:25that we could give him
43:27now,
43:27he'd have got it.