John Netley

[kensei]

I was just noticing that there is hardly anything written here about John Netley and I wondered who might know what. Under "Suspects" on the sidebar, the Royal Conspiracy icon shows a picture of three men- Dr. Gull, Walter Sickert, and a young bearded man. Is that Netley? He is famously depicted on film in both "From Hell" and the Michael Caine miniseries, and Caine as Abberline roughing him up and forcing him to confess in the jail cell is one of my favorite scenes in that show, though it is of course completely fictional, as I think the whole royal conspiracy theory has been proven to be. But what is known of Netley, other than that he was indeed a coach driver and that he was killed in a coach accident in 1903?

[Graham]

John Charles Netley features in the now-known-to-be fictional account by Joseph Sickert of the Royal Conspiracy. His photo is on the Wikipedia entry if you Google 'John Sickert', but very little other information.

J Sickert claimed that Netley was bisexual and known to various members of high-society deviants, and may also have had some part in the Cleveland Street Scandal in which Prince Eddy was involved. Sickert also said that Netley drove the coach on the nights of the murders, carrying William Gull (and possibly others - Anderson being one suggested accomplice) to do the deeds.

It seems that Stephen Knight swallowed J Sickert's tall story hook, line and sinker, and because Netley was a real person was convinced that Sickert had told the truth. The scenes in 'From Hell' involving Netley are purely imaginary.

I think other odd facts concerning Netley were posted on the old boards, but the above is all I know of him and I hope it helps, Kensei.

Cheers,

Graham

[jmenges]

Here is a link to Chris Scott's work on Netley from his 'Cast of Thousands'

http://www.casebook.org/ripper_media/book_reviews/non-fiction/castofthousands.john-netley.html

JM

[John Savage]

Hi Kensei,

The photograph of John Netley comes from Melvyn Fairclough's book "The Ripper and the Royals", which is also based on the tales of Joseph Sickert.

As I recall the photograph was supplied to the author by Joe and we only have his word that this is actually John Netley. Quite honestly it could be anybody for all we know; but if you look at pictures of Joseph Sickert you may feel that their is a certain likeness. Perhaps Joseph's father or gradfather?

Rgds
John