Was Jack like the Ipswich nude murderer?

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Just yesterday I watched a British documentary about a man named Wright from Ipswich, the man having a sentence for life for the nude murders there.

I wonder if Jack was similar in the following ways:

1. He was a very, very common looking. No striking features.

2. No fearce glance outside.

3. Two of the former street-women told to feel safe in his company.

4. At times he was just a regular customer.

Any thoughts, folks?!

All the best
Jukka

[Nemo]

I was struck by his audacity in taking women from a small geographic area saturated with police, and also in dumping two bodies at once.

Before he was identified, I thought the killer was taunting the police and showing them up as inefficient to say the least

He also must have been aware of the terror he caused to the whole community but still went on killing

I would consider him a "spree" killer even though the killings were separated in time

In leaving his DNA he must have expected to be caught relatively quickly - he must have known his DNA was on file

[Limehouse]

Yes, I think we can learn quite a lot from looking at the way Steve Wright worked. Firstly, he killed five women in a short space of time. Second, as has been stated, he did not seem to pose a threat to the women. However, he had the luxury of a car in whihc to pick up his victims and transport their bodies after the act of killing. This made his work much less risky than JtR (although, he had to contend with CCTV cameras, which were helpful to the police in tracking his movements and those of the women he killed). Another similarity is that we have no idea what Steve Wright's motive was, and it seems as difficult to atribute a motive to JtR also.

There are obvious differences. I don't think Steve Wright exhibits any anger in his crimes whereas, to me, JtR does. An obvious comparison, I think, is that of Peter Sutcliffe and JtR. Sutcliffe appears to have been angry with his victims to the extent that he started to attack women who were not soliciting but who, in Sutcliffe's estimation, were in error for simply being on the streets late at night or in the early hours of the morning.

[Mike Covell]

Hi Jukka,
I watched the documentary, and also recently read both "Hunting Evil" by Paul Harrison and David Wilson, and "Cold Blooded Evil" by Neil Root, both 2008.

I would recommend both books, which are fairly cheap, as they show what happened in the investigation, and how the people involved got their man!

Both also take a look at Wright's life, his work, and his marriage, and paints a picture of his psych.

Great reading, thoroughly recommended.

[Mitch Rowe]

He also must have been aware of the terror he caused to the whole community but still went on killing

Yes.. Wright was stopped and questioned by police while cruising the redlight district in the early hours of dec 1. He was questioned as to why he was there and told police he lived in the area and was just driving around because he couldnt sleep or something like that. They were convinced and let him go. He went to kill three more women after that. Also.. I believe he dumped a body while police were at the scene of another dumpsite not more than a few miles away. Or very close.

Wright had a girlfriend that lived with him. They must have talked alot about the murders.

[DarkPassenger]

Wright killed five women in six weeks - faster than Jack. But the fact that he killed five prostitutes in such a short space of time, and in the small area of the murders, suggests he could be comparable to Jack.

[caz]

Hi All,

It has to be said -

But Wright had 'the luxury of a car'. Why the hell would a serial killer with transport options keep plucking his victims from 'a small geographic area saturated with police' unless he had Sat Nav Woman nagging him to "make a U-turn if possible" as soon as he tried to go hunting anywhere else?

Answers on a saucy postcard, addressed to the usual geographical profiling 'experts'.

Love,

Caz
X

[Mike Covell]

There is another Ipswich Killer documentary on this week in the UK, I am sure it's on one of the Discovery channels or Crime channels, sadly, I just caught the back end of the trailer for the show!

[Sam Flynn]

But Wright had 'the luxury of a car'. Why the hell would a serial killer with transport options keep plucking his victims from 'a small geographic area saturated with police'

A few factors that might have contributed to that:

1. It was too soon to tell. This was a blitz that took place over a short period of time - Ripperologists take note - and Wright may have branched out further had he gone on;

2. Wasn't he a regular user of local prostitutes? If so, then he might have posed less of a threat due to his being a familiar face;

3. I assume that there weren't all that many alternative areas in Ipswich where vulnerable women would hang out;

4. He left the bodies in out-of-the-way locations, but not so far away that he couldn't return to base quickly and safely - this implies that he'd also have been familiar with his potential escape routes, which was handy;

5. He was no different from Shawcross, Bianchi, Gacy, Rader and other serial murderers... all of whom had transport, and all of whom lived - and killed - locally. Oddly enough, I can't think of too many serial killers, even in the age of the automobile, who didn't.

[halomanuk]

If JtR is like him then it is amazing how society has accepted these attrocities now..no more needs to be said from me..

[Ben]

Good points, Gareth.

Added to which, I believe Wright actually lived in the red light district of Ipswich anyway!

All the best,
Ben

[Jeff Leahy]

Hi Caz and Sam

Just to add one other thought train. Wright was relatively old for a serial killer and had lived in a number of other areas and run a pub, from memory, where other women had disappeared.

I also seem to remember he worked on a ship with the late Suzi Lamplu, although I've never heard a connection made between Wright and Mr Kipper.

However I think the police have seriously looked at wright in connection to other murders apart from the Ipswich killings. To my knowledge NO link has been made but I think it is a possibility.

Pirate

[DarkPassenger]

Can we please stop calling him the Ipswich nudes murderer? It's like being back in the sixties. Next we'll be calling the Prime Minister Lord Brown. It's the Suffolk Strangler, thank you!

Secondly Wright's been linked to five other murders, but discounted from the Lamplugh case. Kelly Pratt, Natalie Pearman (who vanished outside the same pub in Norwich were Wright was landlord), Mandy Duncan, Vicki Hall and Michelle Beattles.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1579401/Other-possible-victims-of-Steve-Wright.html

[caz]

1. It was too soon to tell. This was a blitz that took place over a short period of time - Ripperologists take note - and Wright may have branched out further had he gone on;

2. Wasn't he a regular user of local prostitutes? If so, then he might have posed less of a threat due to his being a familiar face;

3. I assume that there weren't all that many alternative areas in Ipswich where vulnerable women would hang out;

4. He left the bodies in out-of-the-way locations, but not so far away that he couldn't return to base quickly and safely - this implies that he'd also have been familiar with his potential escape routes, which was handy;

5. He was no different from Shawcross, Bianchi, Gacy, Rader and other serial murderers... all of whom had transport, and all of whom lived - and killed - locally. Oddly enough, I can't think of too many serial killers, even in the age of the automobile, who didn't.

Thanks Sam.

So we're getting closer to the real 'local' argument: that on a purely statistical basis Jack was more likely to have only killed close to home, and to have kept on killing there, regardless of his options.

So any argument that if he hadn't shared his permanent home with his victims he would surely have spread the crimes out more is based on - what exactly?

Love,

Caz
X

PS Re your number 2, had DNA, CCTV and so on not been around, and played their part in nabbing the swine, his undoing could have been his 'familiar' face in an area where he was also living.

[Sam Flynn]

So any argument that if he hadn't shared his permanent home with his victims he would surely have spread the crimes out more is based on - what exactly?

I'm not sure what you mean, Caz. The majority of criminals operate locally - isn't that enough?

Edit: I'm with you now - although that's a Jack question, rather than a Wright question. The answer is simple - and it's based on logistics and an understanding of the distribution of the London poor. Whereas Wright had little choice of alternative locations in which to find victims in downtown Ipswich, Jack would have had several choices if he'd been prepared to travel in almost any direction within two miles of (say) Trafalgar Square. Given that no Ripper victims were found beyond a small radius from Hawksmoor's church, despite the presence of potential victims elsewhere in London, the logical conclusion is that he lived locally. It really is baffling why this idea meets with such passionate resistance.