Local killer for local people................

[yen_powell]

I live 50 miles away from Whitechapel, but 30 plus years of working in the area mean I know my way round there better than when I am at home. I can even navigate my way round a borough map without street names as the pattern is so familiar

In fact, when I close a road to carry out works I am often surprised to find that local people don't know an alternative route back to their home or work place as they have always used the route I have just shut.

[The Station Cat]

I live 50 miles away from Whitechapel, but 30 plus years of working in the area mean I know my way round there better than when I am at home. I can even navigate my way round a borough map without street names as the pattern is so familiar

In fact, when I close a road to carry out works I am often surprised to find that local people don't know an alternative route back to their home or work place as they have always used the route I have just shut.

[Abby Normal]

hutch was local, so much so he knew one of the victims.

[Joshua Rogan]

If the killer wasn't local, what reason did he have to keep returning to Whitechapel? It was far from the only place in London to find prostitutes.

[Michael W Richards]

I think the ability to navigate what was a maze of streets and lanes when leaving the crime scenes and remain unseen or unremarkable to anyone who might have seen him indicates an insiders perspective, not merely someone who goes slumming frequently. I think also that there are a few murderous individuals within a stones throw of some of the murder sites.

But that kind of thinking is only valid once a conclusion has been made that these murders were indeed connected by a single killer. Something which has never been established, only theorized about. A kill circle in these cases might well be a series of violent acts that have been perceived as a lone killer series, or represented as a lone killer series, for the benefit of others.

[miss marple]

15 /20 mins from Covent Garden to Spitalfields! Dont think so, double that. It may look a short distance on a map but it will take longer than that. I am a Londoner and have done alot of walking in London. From Covent Garden you could go down the Strand to the City or along the Embankment. Trafalgar Sq is in the wrong direction. Walking in London is quite stressful.

Miss Marple

[The Station Cat]

If the killer wasn't local, what reason did he have to keep returning to Whitechapel? It was far from the only place in London to find prostitutes.

I was just mulling over the very same thing.

[Harry D]

If the killer wasn't local, what reason did he have to keep returning to Whitechapel? It was far from the only place in London to find prostitutes.

Perhaps once he got away with murder once, then twice, he felt it was a comfortable killing field for him?

[The Station Cat]

I think the ability to navigate what was a maze of streets and lanes when leaving the crime scenes and remain unseen or unremarkable to anyone who might have seen him indicates an insiders perspective, not merely someone who goes slumming frequently. I think also that there are a few murderous individuals within a stones throw of some of the murder sites.

But that kind of thinking is only valid once a conclusion has been made that these murders were indeed connected by a single killer. Something which has never been established, only theorized about. A kill circle in these cases might well be a series of violent acts that have been perceived as a lone killer series, or represented as a lone killer series, for the benefit of others.

Interesting!!!

[The Station Cat]

Perhaps once he got away with murder once, then twice, he felt it was a comfortable killing field for him?

Could be could be..............

[jason_c]

Perhaps once he got away with murder once, then twice, he felt it was a comfortable killing field for him?

Still comfortable killing in the area as it became flooded with policemen after the second or third murder? I have my doubts. I think a perp with the ability to travel any meaningful distance at all would probably have done so. I cannot say with absolute certaintly but to me everything suggests a local. A local who couldn't travel far due to financial restraints or commitments. I think his victims also suggest this. His victims were the lowest of the low and no money was found on their person. These were the best prostitutes he could attract or afford imo.

[andy1867]

I will openly admit most of my "research" has been done on this site
Its the easiest way isn't it?..Lazy..yes....even parasitic , but I simply take in what the more knowledgeable folk offer.
Some of these folk have written books in which I have invested, so I feel like I sort of "paid me way" in some small respect...because some of the books were simply for the sake of "Selling books", which is fair enough.
I listen to all the "Rippercast" episodes and thoroughly enjoy them,
I listened to one, and I honestly forget who it was, but he espoused, more or less "Anyone that had come to the conclusion it was a " Unknown local man"
had virtually given up and really had no place in "Ripperology"...
Well that sums me up precisely...
I don't really expect a place in Ripperology"..and to call me a "Ripperologist" would be akin to sayin' "Einstein was a bloke who could do sums"
It just seems to me its maybe someone we haven't come across yet, someone who knew Whitechapel intimately, and the reason he carried on in Whitechapel, was simply because he knew it intimately, and was extremely comfortable in that area, even when it became rather hotter than it had been previously.
So, in no way have I given up hope, I do as much research now as I have ever done before ..and presume one of you will eventually come up with summat

[Sam Flynn]

How local is 'local?' Theorists have posited that he had to live in Whitechapel to be familiar with the labyrinthine streets and escape routes, but he could've lived on the outskirts or frequented Whitechapel enough to know the area.

Problem is, he'd need to get back to base pretty quickly to avoid detection after the event. That at least suggests a local bolt-hole, if not a local residency.

Also, there were other parts of Late Victorian London with their own plentiful supply of street-walkers and homeless, vulnerable women, so the Ripper had plenty of choice. However, the fact that he seems to have confined his activities to one small part of the East End would appear to be of no small significance.

[Sam Flynn]

If the killer wasn't local, what reason did he have to keep returning to Whitechapel? It was far from the only place in London to find prostitutes.

Indeed, Spitalfields wasn't even the only such place in East London, never mind the rest of the city.

[andy1867]

How busy was Whitechapel on a bank holiday weekend for instance?
Compared to other parts of London.
I read one Ripper book..I apologise I forget by who..Who said that the Ripper simply faded into the crowds on the main thoroughfares after the killings.