Could cane carving be real face of Jack the Ripper?
THE face of Jack the Ripper may have been unmasked, say researchers who have found a tantalising clue 134 years after the serial killer terrorised London.
The Ripper was never caught and little is known about what he looked like, but now a wooden cane has been found in police archives, with what experts say is a ‘composite’ of the killer’s face engraved on it.
The carving is of a haggard man, wearing a brown hood.
The walking stick, previously thought to have been lost, was a gift to Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline, who whose job it was
‘An exciting moment for us’
to hunt down the murderer of five prostitutes in 1888.
It was presented to Mr Abberline as a leaving present by his team after he was pulled from the investigation in 1889.
Police researchers found the cane buried in archives at Rytonon-Dunsmore, Warwickshire. Labelling it as bearing the ‘only reported facial composite’ of Jack the Ripper, they believe the face etched into the handle was one of Mr Abberline’s prime suspects: Dr Alexander Pedachenko.
The claim is disputed by other Ripper researchers, who say the stick was one of many sold by street merchants seeking to cash in on the murderer’s notoriety.
Dr Pedachenko, described as a ‘lunatic’, was a Russian anarchist who had been living in London at the time of the killings.
Jack the Ripper’s bloody crime wave took place between August 31 and November 9, 1888.
Five women – Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly – were hacked to death. They all had their throats slashed, with three having their organs removed.
Half a kidney was sent to police officers along with a series of notes, signed by the Ripper.
The cane is now on display at Bramshill Police Staff College.
Antony Cash, of the College of Policing, said: ‘Finding this cane was an exciting moment for us. Jack the Ripper is one of the biggest and most infamous murder cases in our history and his crimes were significant in paving the way for modern policing and forensics.’