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Chris Morley summarises Clarence Simm on this page:
The original 1989 article reads as follows:
Weekly World News
20 June 1989
I WAS MARRIED TO JACK THE RIPPER
A 100 year old woman has broken a vow of secrecy to make this astonishing statement: "I was the wife of Jack the Ripper and he treated me like a queen!"
Betty Simm, who lives in seclusion in southern Spain, revealed her relationship to the notorious serial killer, an accountant named Clarence Simm, in a letter to her son. The startling news came to light when her son, Walter Simm, died last month and the family's lawyer sifted through his papers.
Mrs Simm, who is in failing health, but mentally vibrant and alert, confirmed the contents of her letter in an interview with reporters. She says her husband died a natural death in 1951 after confessing his horrifying past on his deathbed. Jack the Ripper prowled London in the year 1888, but despite an intensive investigation, the killer's identity was never discovered.
"Clarence told me it was him," Mrs Simm said. "He said he stopped killing when he met and fell in love with his first wife. He told me he didn't want to die with his horrible deeds still weighing on his conscience."
Mrs Simm said she first met Clarence Simm in London back in 1905. Then a widower, Simm was a prosperous accountant of 36 and Betty was a naive 16, but the two fell instantly in love, she said.
Within two months they had married and moved to Yorkshire, where their son was born in 1909.
"He was a very quiet man, very private," Mrs Simm said.
"When he was dying he told me that as a teenager he had killed 14 prostitutes to free them from a life of sin."
Mrs Simm says her husband gave no description of the way notorious Jack the Ripper trapped and killed his victims, but police of the day were horrified at his crimes. The women were found with cut throats and in several instances mutilated.
Investigators had their suspects, including a drunken London attorney, an insane Russian physician and a Polish woman hater.
They also suspected the Duke of Clarence, grandson of Queen Victoria, and Dr Thomas Neil Cream, who was convicted of murders unrelated to the Ripper's and hanged.
Mrs Simm's claim to have been the wife of Jack the Ripper is strongly supported by French polygraph operators Jacques Clement and Gerard Mevel. She agreed to take a lie detector test after her story appeared in the Spanish press. And both Mevel and Clement say that she passed with flying colors.
"There is less than a one half of one percent chance that she is lying," Mevel told newsmen. "It is our belief that she was, in fact, the bride of Jack the Ripper."
Still, Mrs Simm insists that in spite of his crimes, her husband was a decent man who "treated me like a queen."
Some basic info:
According to this account, Clarence Simm was 36 years of age in 1905 when he met Betty. This would place his year of birth at about 1869. Betty was aged 16 at that time, placing her year of birth at approximately 1889. Clarence died in 1951, which would put his age at death at about 82.
The couple married in 1905 and moved to Yorkshire and their son Walter was born in 1909.
When Betty married Clarence was a widower and had previously been married.
There is only one record of a Walter Simm born in 1909, the birth being registered in Ormskirk, Lancashire.
The original 1989 article reads as follows:
Weekly World News
20 June 1989
I WAS MARRIED TO JACK THE RIPPER
A 100 year old woman has broken a vow of secrecy to make this astonishing statement: "I was the wife of Jack the Ripper and he treated me like a queen!"
Betty Simm, who lives in seclusion in southern Spain, revealed her relationship to the notorious serial killer, an accountant named Clarence Simm, in a letter to her son. The startling news came to light when her son, Walter Simm, died last month and the family's lawyer sifted through his papers.
Mrs Simm, who is in failing health, but mentally vibrant and alert, confirmed the contents of her letter in an interview with reporters. She says her husband died a natural death in 1951 after confessing his horrifying past on his deathbed. Jack the Ripper prowled London in the year 1888, but despite an intensive investigation, the killer's identity was never discovered.
"Clarence told me it was him," Mrs Simm said. "He said he stopped killing when he met and fell in love with his first wife. He told me he didn't want to die with his horrible deeds still weighing on his conscience."
Mrs Simm said she first met Clarence Simm in London back in 1905. Then a widower, Simm was a prosperous accountant of 36 and Betty was a naive 16, but the two fell instantly in love, she said.
Within two months they had married and moved to Yorkshire, where their son was born in 1909.
"He was a very quiet man, very private," Mrs Simm said.
"When he was dying he told me that as a teenager he had killed 14 prostitutes to free them from a life of sin."
Mrs Simm says her husband gave no description of the way notorious Jack the Ripper trapped and killed his victims, but police of the day were horrified at his crimes. The women were found with cut throats and in several instances mutilated.
Investigators had their suspects, including a drunken London attorney, an insane Russian physician and a Polish woman hater.
They also suspected the Duke of Clarence, grandson of Queen Victoria, and Dr Thomas Neil Cream, who was convicted of murders unrelated to the Ripper's and hanged.
Mrs Simm's claim to have been the wife of Jack the Ripper is strongly supported by French polygraph operators Jacques Clement and Gerard Mevel. She agreed to take a lie detector test after her story appeared in the Spanish press. And both Mevel and Clement say that she passed with flying colors.
"There is less than a one half of one percent chance that she is lying," Mevel told newsmen. "It is our belief that she was, in fact, the bride of Jack the Ripper."
Still, Mrs Simm insists that in spite of his crimes, her husband was a decent man who "treated me like a queen."
Some basic info:
According to this account, Clarence Simm was 36 years of age in 1905 when he met Betty. This would place his year of birth at about 1869. Betty was aged 16 at that time, placing her year of birth at approximately 1889. Clarence died in 1951, which would put his age at death at about 82.
The couple married in 1905 and moved to Yorkshire and their son Walter was born in 1909.
When Betty married Clarence was a widower and had previously been married.
There is only one record of a Walter Simm born in 1909, the birth being registered in Ormskirk, Lancashire.
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