The End Of The Hunt?

[claire]

That's because they haven't come up with a viable indexing system yet - half of them are labelled "Napoleon".

and there is a large number of Johns the Baptist, too...

re. the 1988 not 1992 question, I'd imagine it had to do with the centenary.

[garytelecastor]

There is correspondence from Monro (Home Office) in January 1889 (HO/144/221/A49301.G) stating that he was trying to decrease the amount of resources (personnel) being used in the case "as quickly as it is safe to do so." Now, whether that means they had already discovered who was behind the killings or simply a matter of economics is never clarified.
But, simply from personal reasoning, if they were still in hot pursuit of the killer I would think that they would not be pulling men off the case.

[Monty]

Robert,

There was a slight reluctance to let him back in yes.

Monty

[Sam Flynn]

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

That's because they haven't come up with a viable indexing system yet - half of them are labelled "Napoleon".

[mac-the-kipper]

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

[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!

[Monty]

Jeff

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

[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?

[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.

[ATTACH]3609[/ATTACH]

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

c.d.

[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.

[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.

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.

[Monty]

As long as Waterman doesnt sing the feeme tune!

[Limehouse]

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

[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