A woman claims to have dug up compelling evidence allowing to uncover the true identity behind the “daddy” of all serial killers - Jack The Ripper.
The mystery of the face behind the brutal 19th century London serial murderer has long fired the imagination of police and criminology enthusiasts. Now, ex-police volunteer Sarah Bax Horton, whose great-great-grandfather, Harry Garrett, was an officer involved in the original investigation, claims her lengthy detective work helped her zero in on a certain Hyam Hyams, a cigar-maker, UK media reported.
The cigar-maker lived in an area in the East End of London in the 19th century that had been terrorized by the brutal murderer. According to the woman’s research, Hyams, who was 35 in 1888, had been an alcoholic, who suffered from bouts of epilepsy. In and out of mental asylums, the man reportedly was left unable to work after an injury to his arm. Furthermore, records showed that the paranoid Hyam Hyams repeatedly assaulted his wife, claiming that she was cheating on him. At one point, after attacking both the woman and his own mother with “a chopper” the fellow was arrested.
It was after Bax Horton dug deeper, getting access to his medical records, that the important clues revealed themselves. Hyams' condition, according to notes from various infirmaries and asylums, began to rapidly deteriorate between February 1888 (when he broke his arm), and when he was finally permanently committed to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum in September 1889. This appears to fit the time frame when Jack the Ripper wreaked havoc.
“For the first time in history, Jack the Ripper can be identified as Hyam Hyams using distinctive physical characteristics... That escalation path matched the increasing violence of the murders... He was particularly violent after his severe epileptic fits, which explains the periodicity of the murders," Bax Horton was quoted as saying.
This is how witnesses described the man who stalked London's streets in 1888 and bore the moniker Jack the Ripper :
Medium height and build (5ft 5in.- 5ft 8in.)
Stout & broad-shouldered
In his mid-thirties
Stiff arm
Irregular gait
Bent knees
Asymmetric foot dragging
The brutal murders linked with Jack the Ripper suddenly came to an end in late 1888, approximately when Hyams was discovered by London police as “a wandering lunatic”.
No one was ever charged with any of the deaths, let alone convicted. The exact number of victims also remains a debated issue. At least six women Martha Tabram, Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elisabeth Stride, Kate Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly – were killed in or near Whitechapel between August and November 1888.
Since then the identity of the serial murderer has remained a mystery, although police, as well as enthusiasts have pointed at possible suspects. A recent study even attemped to use up-to-date DNA testing to put the debates to rest.
As for Sarah Bax Horton, she will be laying bare her discoveries in a forthcoming book, titled One-Armed Jack: Uncovering the Real Jack the Ripper, set to be published by Michael O’Mara Books in August.