‘Crass’ Jack the Ripper running tours hit a wall of angry criticism

FOR more than a century Jack the Ripper’s horrific murders of at least five women have excited the public imagination, spawning countless books, films and theories about the Victorian killer.

But the latest spin-off from the Jack the Ripper industry has prompted an outpouring of anger.

A running tour, which leads groups of people on a run through the murderer’s East End haunts as well as visiting the streets where his victims lived, has prompted accusations of “tastelessness” and grotesque “exploitation” of his victims.

The organisers have been heavily criticised for continuing to stage the Jack the Ripper Running Tours in the wake of the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa and other female victims.

Secret London Runs, which organises the 10km running tours at a cost of £24.60 each, promises participants that “as we jog through the back-alleys of east London, you’ll be transported back to Victorian London at the time of the Whitechapel murders”.

It adds: “Our tour begins by running you through the tragic events of 1888 and the surrounding social history: the police, the press and the conditions for east Londoners. But we’ll also have time to explore a number of theories of that age-old question – who was Jack the Ripper?”

Critics have taken issue with the running format of the tour, saying it is at odds with the grisly subject matter.

The tour’s promotional image shows what appears to be a woman running through a darkened alleyway with a silhouette of Jack the Ripper behind her.

Guy Walters, a writer specialising in the Nazi regime, said: “I’m a keen runner and I’m also a historian, but there are times when the two things should not be combined.

“Running is about self-improvement, fitness and fun. Jack the Ripper was a disgusting murderer of women. The two things don’t go together.

“What I find strange about horror is how it diminishes with time. That’s simply wrong.”

Hallie Rubenhold, the author of a book on Jack the Ripper’s victims, wrote: “Just when you thought they’d used up all the possible tasteless ideas…”

Secret Running Tours defended the runs. Vanessa Cain-tait, the firm’s founder, said: “Our guides know this is an inflammatory subject and we are very mindful that women died. We make sure we talk about his victims as people and look at what their lives were like as well as what happened to them.”

‘Running is about fitness and fun, the Ripper was a murderer of women. The two things don’t go together ’