Photo of Kelly's room - NOT GENUINE - but where is it from?

[Chris Scott]

I have been sent this picture which appeared in a magazine article recently.
It is hopefully labelled: "Mary Kelly's room photographed some time after the murder."
This is patently an absurd claim and the picture - if it has anything to do with Kelly's room - is clearly some kind of "dolls house" type model.
Apart from the fact that there is a bed and a table I can see very little in common with Kelly's room and the positioning of both the door and the fireplace are, to say the least, odd.
Has anyone ever seen this before and, if so, does anyone known its origin?
Chris S

[Phil Carter]

Hello Chris,

Well, you WERE on a roll...this one, as you say, resembles a doll's house..especially the size of the bed...I zoomed in a few times...look at the walls obviously a printed curtain material draped over the length of the walland the wall behind the head of the bed....it resembles a printed photo image, re printed over and over again, and badly disguised. In the mirror, an "image" is the best I can call it of a half Hitler face...
This is one heck of a fake if I saw one. Somebody is playing silly b...ers.

What was the name of the mag Chris?, were you informed?

best wishes

Phil

[Chris Scott]

Hi Phil
It was in an article entitled "We name Jack the Ripper" (They name James Kelly!) in a "one off" magazine named "20 All True Murder Stories - True Crime Winter Special" and was published in the early months of this year.

I cannot believe this is even an attempt at a hoax - it is just so bizarre.
I was just intrigued if it had ever been seen before and in what context

[Phil Carter]

Hello Chris,

Thanks again. Bizzare...yup..thats the word. I suppose as the man is now named we can all go home?..LOL...If I didnt know better I'd bring up the facial images on the wall curtain material as The Beatles. lol It must be too early in the morning for this sort of thing. (06.15am here)

best wishes

Phil

[Phil Carter]

Hello again Chris..

Here is a website follow up I found that has the same name mag cover. This is from 1982, but shows Bruce Paley's idea about Barnett from 1995, and it is signed!!

http://laybooks.com/detail.asp?b=10194

best wishes

Phil

[jmenges]

Hi Chris,

This looks like one of William Stewart's model "reconstructions".

JM

[Monty]

Chris,

To confirm Jons post, its one of the recons from William Stewarts book Jack the Ripper: A new theory 1939.

Monty

[Stephen Thomas]

This looks like one of William Stewart's model "reconstructions".

Legend has it that Wm Stewart was interviewed by the police to explain how he knew the layout of 13 Millers Court so well (ho ho)

[Phil Carter]

Hello Jon, Neil,

Thank you for identifying this, I saw on na web site recently that a first edition decent copy of William Stewart's book goes for £750!!

best wishes

Phil

[Chris Scott]

Hi guys
Thanks Jonathan for identifying this and Monty for the confirmation.
I have never owned a copy of the Stewart book - are there any more of these "reconstructions" and, if so, are they any more accurate?
Thanks again
Chris

[Phil Carter]

Hello Chris,

Apparently, he made model reconstructions of all the murder sites. There is a dissertation on here that is really interesting.

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/rip-stewartbio.html

It was done by Andy Aliffe.

best wishes

Phil

[spyglass]

I first saw this photo in the late eighty's in a "True Crime" magazine JTR special, I think they churn it out every time they print a JTR story.
I also remember a strange photo of the Duckfield Yard site in the same magazine which looked like a mock up as well, I have never seen it since.

[ChrisGeorge]

I first saw this photo in the late eighty's in a "True Crime" magazine JTR special, I think they churn it out every time they print a JTR story.
I also remember a strange photo of the Duckfield Yard site in the same magazine which looked like a mock up as well, I have never seen it since.

These early reconstructions by William Stewart are akin to modern-day computer reconstructions of the Whitechapel Murders crime scenes and therefore are a legitimate and historically important part of the latter-day investigation into the murders.

Chris

[Cap'n Jack]

'I also remember a strange photo of the Duckfield Yard site in the same magazine which looked like a mock up as well, I have never seen it since.'

Oh that one, I saw that as well recently, a dead 'duck' if I ever saw one.

[Stephen Thomas]

Oh that one, I saw that as well recently, a dead 'duck' if I ever saw one.

You won't leave this one alone will you, AP?

You do yourself a disservice.