Did Jack the Ripper confess in Melbourne Gaol?

Did Jack the Ripper confess in Australia? In March 1892 it was reported that a man in Melbourne Gaol had confessed to being Jack the Ripper. Frederick Bailey Deeming was awaiting trial for the murder of his wife, Emily Mather. He married her in Rainhill, England on 22 September 1891, before leaving for Australia. After […]

The crimes of George Chapman

Seweryn Klosowski, alias George Chapman, was executed on 7 April 1903. He poisoned three of his partners for unknown reasons. Rumours circulated that he was also Jack the Ripper. Inspector Abberline told a journalist that he felt Chapman was the man his officers struggled to catch fifteen years earlier. In 1994 Phillip Sugden regarded Chapman […]

Barnett and Kelly

On 8 April 1887, Good Friday, a fish porter named Joseph Barnet met a woman who called herself Mary Kelly. The couple agreed to a second meeting on the following day and then lived together. They settled in Millers Court, Whitechapel. Barnett left Kelly on 30 October. Nine days later she was killed by Jack […]

The murder of Emma Smith

Emma Smith died on 4 April 1888. She is the first victim in the police files on the Whitechapel murders although there were, and remain, good reasons to believe that she was killed by a different assailant. The police investigation into the crime was perfunctory, at best. Chief Inspector West attended the inquest on 7 […]

A picture of Michael Ostrog

A collection of items relating to Jack the Ripper murders were auctioned in Exeter on 22 March. They belonged to Inspector Joseph Helson who, as Head of J Division, led the investigation into the murder of Mary Ann Nichols, often regarded as the Ripper’s first victim in 1888. The collection included a photograph of Nichols […]

Updated Amazon Author Page

I have updated my Amazon author page. Three new books added this year. Two of these are in Mitzi Szereto’s acclaimed The Best New True Crime series and the other is a fantasy story in Kingdoms of Wrath and Ice, edited by Liz Delton. Not on Amazon is my second brief encounter for The Doctor […]

New titles

Three different publications to announce. The sixth instalment of Mitzi Szereto’s acclaimed true crime series contains my piece on the Pype Hayes Murders. It is the fourth time I have worked with Mitzi in this series and, once again, she has edited a fantastic collection. It is available now. Khartoum is my second contribution to […]