Yours truly, Jack the Ripper ....
Expert: ‘Serial killer’s diary’ genuine
A FORGOTTEN diary written by a man who unmasked himself as Jack The Ripper is authentic, claims an expert.
Victorian cotton merchant James Maybrick claimed he was the infamous killer in memoirs discovered 25 years ago.
But the 9,000-word text was branded a forgery and the finder would not say where he found it.
Now Robert Smith, who first published the document in 1993, says he can prove the diary was found in Maybrick’s former home.
The identity of one of the world’s most renowned serial killers, who murdered and mutilated five prostitutes in East London, has been a mystery for 129 years.
Maybrick’s memoirs first came to light via former Liverpool scrap metal dealer Mike Barrett, who claimed he had obtained them through family friend Tony Devereux.
Maybrick signed off the diary, saying: “I give my name that all know of me, so history do tell, what love can do to a gentleman born. Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper.”
He also apparently confessed to the murder of a Manchester prostitute in the diary. Mr Smith said Barrett would not admit where the document had come from for fear of prosecution.
But Mr Smith has detailed his 20-year research in a book which claims the diary was found in Liverpudlian Maybrick’s bedroom, at the home he shared with wife Florence.
He said: “When the diary first emerged, Mike Barrett refused to give any satisfactory explanation for where it had come from, but after painstaking research, we can now show a trail that leads us directly to Maybrick’s home.
“I have never been in any doubt that the diary is a genuine document written in 1888 and 1889.
“The new and indisputable evidence, that on March 9, 1992, the diary was removed from under the floorboards of the room that had been James Maybrick’s bedroom in 1889 and offered later on the very same day to a London literary agent, overrides any other considerations regarding its authenticity.”
Dozens of theories have tried to solve the mystery of the Ripper, who in 1888 butchered Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly between August 31 and November 9 in Whitechapel.
The Ripper cut their throats before abdominal mutilation. The removal of internal organs from at least three victims led to claims he must have had surgical knowledge.
Mr Smith added of his findings: “It follows that James Maybrick is its most likely author. Was he Jack the Ripper? He now has to be a prime suspect, but the disputes over the Ripper’s identity may well rage for another century at least.”
Suspicions have also been raised about Maybrick’s brother, Michael, in another book. Mr Smith’s book, 25 Years of The Diary of Jack the Ripper: The True Facts, is out now.