Police Suspects

[Dawn-Gale]

Can anyone out there tell me if any of the police were suspects?

Thank you...

[The Grave Maurice]

I don't know a lot about this topic, Dawn-Gale, but I think your question deserves an answer by someone. Most famously, Sophie Herford published a book last year (Jack L'Eventreur Démasqué) in which she accused Melville Macnaghten of being JtR. More mundanely, an anonymous writer sent a letter to the City of London police on 19 October 1888 claiming that the killer was an ex-constable of the Metropolitan police. You can read the text of that letter on p. 236 of Evans & Skinner's book JtR: Letters from Hell.

[Wolf Vanderlinden]

Hi Dawn-Gale.

I can think of two examples. The American newspaper the Brooklyn Eagle, 10 November, 1888, suggested that the Ripper might be either a policeman or an ex-policeman, stating:

"Much more reasonable would it be to infer that the murderer is a member or ex-member of the London police force, who, for some wrong, real or fancied, seeks to bring ridicule and disgrace on the entire police machinery of the metropolis."

Perhaps more famously, a letter was received at the Home Office on 10 September, 1889, by a Mr. H. T. Haslewood who suggested that the murderer was a policeman whose name he would provide only if his own name was kept out of the matter. He eventually named Sergeant William Thick of H Division as the murderer. Mr. Haslewood was not taken very seriously.

Wolf.

[Howard Brown]

Dear Dawn Gale:

You could also add Sir Robert Anderson to that list of proposed suspects.

I won't waste your time pointing you in the direction that came from, but he has been mentioned.

[kerbyroger]

Can anyone out there tell me if any of the police were suspects?

Thank you...

For many years there was a family rumour that a relative of mine was a prime suspect for the ripper murders but because he was a policeman it was not investigated due to the acute embarrassment it would cause to the force. His name was Sergeant Kerby and he was probably the last person(other than the actual killer)to see at least one of the victims alive. He also transferred the victim on a cart to the mortuary, so it would not have aroused comment had his clothes been "accidentally" covered in blood.
It has also always suprised me that no cries were ever heard from the victims
even though several happened in highly populated areas. Who would a potential victim trust until it was too late to call out A POLICEMAN!

Roger Kerby

[Robert]

There was also Chris George's PC Richard Brown (though he wasn't a contemporary suspect) :

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=1546

[jmenges]

And the Met received the 'Trowbridge' letter accusing City PC Watkins.

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=750

JM

[Mitch Rowe]

Thick was also accused by a letter according to this:

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/ws-thick.html

Look at the final paragraph.

EDIT>> Ah.. Wolf I didnt see your post. Anyway the dissertation is nice to read.

[amarti9]

Hi. I too am interested in the police theory. Ive never examined or researched the JTR case. Ive watched a few documentaries and gone through forums like this one. Ive read up on the victims and viewed the map of where the murders occurred.

A policeman jumps out at me. This is the viewpoint from someone who hasnt gone deep into the case as of yet. For me the reason that JTR wasnt caught was that he had the ultimate disguise or hiding place.

......he hid in plain sight.........as a policeman. Possibly a patrol man.

[Jon Guy]

Hello

The person most likely to catch the girls by surprise in a secluded area would have been a punter. or someone passing themselves off as a punter.

The girls would have made a bee line for a possible punter, and I guess they would have avoided a copper.

[perrymason]

No-one has yet put PC Harvey on the watch list, but I suspect there may be some forthcoming speculation in paperback.

Although there are no grounds I know of to support any allegations against him, he is an interesting element of the Mitre Square Affair anyway.

For myself, I think its more likely that we might have police withholding information directly or indirectly, rather than having a hands-on role so to speak.

Many residents in that area HATED the police since Trafalgar Square....one of the dead from Bloody Sunday had almost a million people show up at her funeral I believe. It was them against the police, if anything they had the motives to do something to hurt or embarrass the police, not vice versa.

Did the crimes hurt the police? Well, Warren resigned for one...and he was the symbol of all that was perceived wrong about the handling of Bloody Sunday. He didnt resign for his role in the investigations, but Im sure it contributed to the ousting.

I think there are things that we shall never know, because the truth is that some information is to important to allow ordinary people access to, and a monarchy and a Parliament decided what was best, not the desire of the populous for some truth. If there was any sensitive investigations that went on in addition to Jacks....remember, they foil a Fenian Assassination plot of The Irish Secretary that same Fall...and some references or characters in those events also find themselves in the Ripper records...there may have been legitimate National Security issues that required they prevent those associations from being made public.

Its a guess. But I would think on those lines before I would imagine a police murderer.

Best regards

[Mitch Rowe]

I would say it was more likely JTR was a former PC rather than an active one. Alot of SKs were at one time involved with police on a friendly basis. Whether acting as the role of an enforcer in security or as a groupie.. There seems to be a common occurence in SKs.