A series of genetic tests have claimed to finally uncover the true identity of Jack the Ripper
More than 130 years since Jack the Ripper haunted the murky, foggy lanes of Victorian London, forensic boffins reckon they might have finally unmasked the infamous killer’s identity, and it’s a name that has long been linked with the grisly murders.
A raft of genetic tests unveiled this week suggest the notorious slayer was indeed Aaron Kosminski, a 23-year-old Polish barber and one of the Metropolitan Police’s key suspects back in the day. Kosminski was a Polish-born Jewish immigrant who made his home in London’s East End after escaping persecution in the late 1800s.
Snipping locks in Whitechapel, he would have resided smack dab in the middle of the Ripper’s hunting ground and exhibited early symptoms of serious mental illness.
In 1891, just a handful of years post the murders, he was committed to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum following a diagnosis of paranoia, hallucinations and an aversion to washing or eating food prepared by others.
Despite being clearly troubled, staff didn’t deem Kosminski violent, and he spent the remainder of his days in institutions until his demise in 1919.
Police chiefs later fingered him as a prime suspect, with one high-ranking officer alleging an eyewitness had even pointed him out but declined to testify.
The findings tying Kosminski to the murders have ignited headlines globally, yet experts caution that the evidence still falls short of definitively cracking what is Britain’s most infamous cold case, reports the Mirror.
The latest development revolves around a silk shawl purportedly found next to the mutilated body of Catherine Eddowes, the Ripper’s fourth victim who was killed in 1888.
Forensic teams analysed DNA from blood and semen on the fabric and compared it with samples from living relatives of both Eddowes and Kosminski.
According to the new study, the DNA presents what’s known as a genetic match with some of Kosminski’s descendants. If accurate, this would be the most compelling scientific link yet between Kosminski and the gruesome murders that claimed five women’s lives.
However, several experts have highlighted that the study doesn’t actually publish the genetic sequences discovered, instead representing them as coloured blocks on a chart, making them hard to verify.
The authors argue that UK privacy laws stopped them from disclosing more detail. Yet, forensic experts have dismissed this reasoning, noting that mitochondrial DNA poses no privacy threat and could certainly have been included.
And that’s not the only issue. Some historians maintain there’s no evidence the shawl was ever at the crime scene, while others suggest it may have been contaminated multiple times over the past century.
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