What was withheld??

[sdreid]

Or, live lineups for that matter.

[ianincleveland]

Related questions could be:

Was there false information put out by police with the intent of tripping up the killer?

And if so, might some of it have gone unretracted and we now accept it as fact when it is totally false?

Thats perfectly possible but usually the police withold something to trap the killer.Nothing very major generally but some small detail that only the killer and the police would know.

If the police had given out false information it could have deterred possible witnesses or people coming forward who suspected someone of being JTR so id be suprised if they did do it but then you never know

[sdreid]

You are probably right Ian although, as you say, it's a possibility.

[sdreid]

I don't know about 1888 but in the Stripper Case, the police supposedly put out the ruse that they were about to make an arrest in order to see which of the persons of interest got the most rattled. This story may or may not be true however.

[sdreid]

To me, it looked like it might have been a way to put the mark on Mr. Ireland and thus claim they'd solved the case.

[sdreid]

A JtR contemporary newspaper posted over on that other site asks if police might be withholding information about the case to aid them in solving it so the practice wasn't apparently unknown at the time. The question is, was it withheld to the point that we have never learned about it even today?

[sdreid]

I did read somewhere that a wig was supposedly found near one of the murder sites which wasn't revealed until years later but I believe that account is suspect.

[sdreid]

The reason I say suspect is because the person who related the wig business was, I think, a person who was forwarding a theory that Jack dressed as a woman to gain the confidence of his victims.

[sleekviper]

Hi Stan,
I would think that if the police were going to provide false evidence, it would be away from the crime scene since saying that they found something when they had not could destroy the case. The defense of a suspect asking for evidence that the police claimed to possess, suddenly being told that the evidence never existed, leads one to ponder how much has been fabricated or withheld in order to bring this person to trial. They could, I would imagine on the other hand, fake a message with the hope that a suspect might act on it since it could be technically a fake from anyone. Catching the killer is the first step, convicting him is just as important, so anything that may worsen the chances have to be avoided. They probably did hold something back, but after all this time I doubt we would ever know of it.

[sdreid]

I don't know how it is in the U.K. but in the U.S. police are allowed to lie and tell a suspect they have something that they don't in order to elicit a confession. It doesn't hurt the prosecution because, if anyone says anything, they just say we lied to try to get a confession which we are allowed to do and that's the end of it.

[sdreid]

I don't know if this has always been the practice but I assume so.

[Patutte]

False Victims

I just had a curious thought. Not sure if it's silly, crazy, or just down right stupid. However, in terms of either A, Withholding evidence, or B, supplying fake evidence, what if they supplied fake victims?

What if there were other prostitutes being killed at the time (not by JTR), but no evidence like with the others who are linked to JTR? What if police decided to use said victims in order to lure the murder into making a move? Maybe they decided to add a few details about evidence, such as this item was found, or such and such was done to the body.

Call me crazy, but a person like JTR, he seems like the type who might be insulted by people giving him credit for other persons crimes. Could the police have possibly attempted to take advantage of this?

Like I said before maybe I'm crazy for thinking such things, but in a world of infinite possibilities, nothing, regardless of how odd, strange, or silly, can truly be discounted. Of course that's just my 2 cents.

[Monty]

I don't know how it is in the U.K. but in the U.S. police are allowed to lie and tell a suspect they have something that they don't in order to elicit a confession. It doesn't hurt the prosecution because, if anyone says anything, they just say we lied to try to get a confession which we are allowed to do and that's the end of it.

Today, no, as it breachs PACE.

1888....hmmmmmm

Monty

[Patutte]

Pace

I'm not sure exactly when it came about, but PACE (Police And Criminal Evidence Act, AKA, PCEA) was introduced sometime in 1984.

Excerpts of this legislation can be found @ http://legislationline.org/documents.../popup/id/7333

[The Grave Maurice]

...but I believe that account is suspect.

At least it's better than a suspect that is a Count. I'm tired of the "highest in the land" theories.