Why weren't the police interested?

[Harry D]

Here we have a guy with a reputation for violence who leaves the East End shortly after Mary Kelly's murder and kills his wife in 'Ripper fashion'. I find it hard to believe that Scotland Yard couldn't be assed to send someone to interview him.

[John Wheat]

To Harry

There is some evidence that Scotland Yard did send someone to interview Bury before he was hung. However I think Scotland Yard believed they were looking for a top hated toff type rather than a nobody like Bury.

Cheers John

[John Wheat]

I think also the Police were alternatively on the lookout for a foreigner or someone Jewish.

Cheers John

[John G]

To Harry

There is some evidence that Scotland Yard did send someone to interview Bury before he was hung. However I think Scotland Yard believed they were looking for a top hated toff type rather than a nobody like Bury.

Cheers John

Hello John,

But surely Kosminski doesn't fit that criteria, and he was arguably the main suspect. Saddler, wasn't a "toff", either, but the police went to the trouble of arranging a witness ID in his case.

[pinkmoon]

What about Druitt?

[John G]

What about Druitt?

Wasn't he another "toff" suspect?

[Harry D]

To Harry

There is some evidence that Scotland Yard did send someone to interview Bury before he was hung. However I think Scotland Yard believed they were looking for a top hated toff type rather than a nobody like Bury.

Cheers John

Hello, John.

What evidence is that?

I know Abberline made enquiries about Bury but I don't know that anyone from Scotland Yard ever interviewed him.

[John Wheat]

Hello, John.

What evidence is that?

I know Abberline made enquiries about Bury but I don't know that anyone from Scotland Yard ever interviewed him.

Yes Harry I was wrong Scotland Yard didn't interview Bury. What I should have said was there is some evidence that Scotland Yard made enquiries about Bury.

Cheers John

[pinkmoon]

I think the real answer to the question is that the police didn't know what they were looking for that's why the likes of Kosminski and Druitt entered the equation.

[John G]

I think the real answer to the question is that the police didn't know what they were looking for that's why the likes of Kosminski and Druitt entered the equation.

Yes, and we can't assume that all the senior officers within the Metropolitan and City forces were of the same opinion. Some may have suspected a toff, whilst others may have been more open minded or favoured a local man. Whereas others maybe freely admitted that they didn't have a clue!

[Wyatt Earp]

This is a question for our legal eagles here. Once Bury was charged with Ellen’s murder, which took place immediately, wouldn’t it have been “hands off” so far as additional police questioning was concerned?

Once Bury was convicted, he would have had no incentive to respond to police questions—he was already a condemned man.

We cannot fault the police for failing to interview Bury if he could not or would not be interviewed.

[Wickerman]

This is a question for our legal eagles here. Once Bury was charged with Ellen’s murder, which took place immediately, wouldn’t it have been “hands off” so far as additional police questioning was concerned?

The rule is, that once arrested, the prisoner shall not be asked any question concerning the crime for which he is charged.

As you can see, in this case the question would concern another crime, but so long as the prisoner was cautioned first, I don't see why he couldn't be questioned.

[John Wheat]

The rule is, that once arrested, the prisoner shall not be asked any question concerning the crime for which he is charged.

As you can see, in this case the question would concern another crime, but so long as the prisoner was cautioned first, I don't see why he couldn't be questioned.

All things considered it is a failure of Scotland Yard that they didn't speak to Bury before he was hung for what I and others consider to be a similar crime to the C5.

Cheers John

[Wickerman]

William Bury must have known the details of the Whitechapel murders as much as anyone else at that time. Why then did he randomly stab and slash at his wife's abdomen, when he could have opened her up in true Ripper fashion?

Asking him if he was the Whitechapel Murderer is inviting a claim to notoriety, and there had been no shortage of people claiming to be Jack the Ripper at one time or another.
Unless Scotland Yard held back some details of each individual crime in anticipation of an arrest, they might have trouble proving anyone was the real Whitechapel murderer 3 months after Millers Court.

I doubt Scotland Yard believed those stabs & slashes were the mark of Jack the Ripper.
If they had, the presence of Dr. Phillips would have been the clue. As far as I know, Phillips did not journey to Dundee in connection with this crime.

[J6123]

Possibly because they already knew that the Ripper was a poor Polish Jew who had been safely caged in an asylum. I don't know much about Bury though so will keep my trap shut and concentrate on reading comments instead.

Continue...