The great-granddaughter of a policeman who investigated the Jack the Ripper murders in 19th century London believes she has discovered the killer’s true identity, writes the Sunday Telegraph.
Sarah Bax Horton has written a book about her investigation into local cigar maker Hyam Hyams, which she says matches the descriptions given by witnesses at the time.
The Jack the Ripper murders, which resulted in the deaths of at least six women in London’s East End in 1888, remain one of Britain’s most notorious unsolved cases.
An entire industry sprang up around the case, including books, exhibitions and walks through the streets of the Whitechapel district where the women were murdered.
Sarah Bax Horton identified Hyam Hyams, an epileptic and alcoholic incarcerated in a psychiatric ward, as the likely culprit.
Witnesses at the time described the man seen with the victims as a man in his thirties, with a stiff arm, an uneven gait and bent knees.
The author of the book One Armed Jack: discovering the real Jack The Ripper, which will be released next month, searched medical records for Hyams, who was 35 in 1888.
Records show he had an injury that prevented him from bending or straightening his left arm, dragging next to his foot, and unable to bend his knees. There are also similarities between his height and build with witness descriptions. Hyams had regular seizures due to epilepsy, taking notes in hospitals and nursing homes.
The cigar maker was permanently committed to an insane asylum in September 1889 and died in 1913.
Sarah Bax Horton concluded that Hyams, who had previously assaulted his wife, was murdered because of his mental and physical decline, exacerbated by alcoholism.
Hyam Hyams was on a “long list” of potential suspects, but his name was “never fully investigated as a suspect”.
Jack the Ripper expert Paul Begg called Sarah Bax Horton’s findings “a well-crafted, well-written, long overdue investigation into a possible suspect”.
Source: DN
