The End Of The Hunt?

[THESTUDIOPRODUCTIONS]

Hello Ripperologists!!!

Does anyone out there now a rough official date as to when and why the hunt for good ol' Jack was called off by officials?

Thanks Again

[Sam Flynn]

The police file on the Ripper was closed in 1892.

[THESTUDIOPRODUCTIONS]

Thank you Sam, do you know if the search was given up at that point in time or long before the case was officialy closed? And do you know if there was ever a publicly given reason that circulated the press as to why the case had been closed?

Thanks Again

[Sam Flynn]

As far as I'm aware, the decision to close the case would have been a matter entirely for the police, and they'd have needed no other reason than (the very practical one) that the case had gone "cold". I can't see that they'd have had any obligation to justify their decision to the public, especially given that no further "Ripper" murders seemed to be occurring. The number of plain-clothes men drafted onto the case had already started winding down from February 1889, although (as Evans & Rumbelow point out in their book Scotland Yard Investigates) economic factors seem to have played a major part in this. It's worth noting that the number of uniformed bobbies in H Division (Whitechapel), remained reasonably high for some time.

[Monty]

The case has never been closed, no unsolved murder case is.

As the murders decreased it was not financially viable for the authorities to operate at the level they had in 88, as Gareth points out.

Monty

[Limehouse]

Would anyone in the Uk like to see the New Tricks team have a crack at solving the JtR case?

[Monty]

As long as Waterman doesnt sing the feeme tune!

[perrymason]

Hello all,

If I recall correctly, isnt it 1896 when the letter mentioning the GSG "The Juwes are not the men..." is received, which was reviewed by some of the key Ripper investigators? If thats accurate, my only point was that the cases may have been closed, but they readily investigated anything that might be related to those crimes whenever it appeared, and were still somewhat preoccupied with those murders...some for perhaps the balance of their careers.

And many historians continue investigating these crimes today, which might make this one of, if not the longest unofficial investigation of a crime or series of crimes.

Best regards all.

[Stewart P Evans]

Closed Files

This is a topic, as with so many in this genre, that has been discussed before. Unsolved murder files are not actually closed. They remain active as long as there is something to investigate and are then stored, or laid aside, until something else, like a new lead or information, crops up.

In this case the Coles murder of 1891 was considered the last of the Whitechapel murders series. The last active paperwork on that case is dated 1892. All such files usually come under the '100 year rule' for release to the public in order that any information on the file is well out of living memory before it is released. These files passed to the Public Record Office (now National Archives) in the 1980s and were accordingly stamped 'Closed until 1992', thus leading to the mythology of closure in 1892.

[KatBradshaw]

I bet Alun 'Brian' Armstrong would solve it!!
He actually was in 'This is personal, the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper'.

I can't imagine how odd it must have been to write Closed till 1992 back then! I wonder what they thought 1992 would be like or if they knew we would still be talking about the case.

[c.d.]

This is a topic, as with so many in this genre, that has been discussed before. Unsolved murder files are not actually closed. They remain active as long as there is something to investigate and are then stored, or laid aside, until something else, like a new lead or information, crops up.

In this case the Coles murder of 1891 was considered the last of the Whitechapel murders series. The last active paperwork on that case is dated 1892. All such files usually come under the '100 year rule' for release to the public in order that any information on the file is well out of living memory before it is released. These files passed to the Public Record Office (now National Archives) in the 1980s and were accordingly stamped 'Closed until 1992', thus leading to the mythology of closure in 1892.

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Thanks for that Stewart but I am still a little confused here. Are there any files that are still closed?

c.d.

[Jeff Leahy]

As I understand the files on James Kelly are still closed.

So I assume Broadmoor is different?

Pirate

PS And i thought some ripper related files were also closed because they contained information on reinvestigation in the 1950's 60's?

[Monty]

Jeff

I think that may have something to do with his escape and recapture many years later.

[Robert]

Jeff, files on Broadmoor patients are closed for 100 years after death, and possibly more.

Monty, not so much a recapture, was it? He virtually had to force his way in!

[mac-the-kipper]

Does anyone know why they were made available in 1988 and not 1992?