Next Tuesday, 14 July, is the publication date for The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns, which includes my article on the Carmarthen mystery. This is an offshoot of my research into the identify of Jack the Ripper’s final victim. Following her death one man, John Rees, came forward to confirm her story that she lived in Wales. The identification was incorrect, but I was intrigued by Rees’s motivation.

At the time of this claim his wife was awaiting trial for murder, after an abortion patient died. Rees himself would soon be charged with procuring abortion and acquitted. Four year’s earlier his wife’s father was also charged with murder after a pregnant woman died in his house. Doctor John Morgan Hopkins, a respected member of the community, claimed not to know the woman and denied that she was pregnant.

My article takes a fresh look at this incident and is one of several new pieces in an anthology edited by the indefatigable Mitzi Szereto.

Paul Williams is a writer of fiction and non-fiction best known for his study of 333 Jack the Ripper suspects.