Blotchy

[miss marple]

The price for an East End stand up quickie was four pence, the cheapest and lowest in the hierarchy of prostitutes, which was the cost of a room in a lodging house. If Mary used her room she might get a shilling or more if she offered extra services.
Its a matter of economics. Mary had been a professional prostitute, not a sad old bag needing money for drink or a room, so if it is true she had worked in an upmarket brothel and she was still young and attractive, I don't suppose she would get out of bed for four pence.
In a west end brothel you could get five shillings up to a pound.
She did not go back on the game till she split with Joe. She needed that room.

Miss Marple

[Errata]

"My question would still be, why cut the right side of her throat (her right side)?
I am very strongly right-handed myself, and cannot imagine cutting someone's throat "backhand," as it were. Jack had always cut his victims' throats on their left side."

Just possibly because, whilst his usual practise was to cut the left side of the throat from the right side of the body, he was unable to get there without waking her on this occasion and had to improvise? I think the fact that the bed was against the wall on that side might be a factor.

(I'm not saying that's how it was - just that it is a possible explanation).

Yours aye, Bridewell.

If a right handed man cuts the throat of a victim from behind, he starts the cut on her left side. If he cuts the throat of a supine victim while on her right side, he starts on her left. If he cuts the throat of a supine victim from her left side, he starts the cut on her right. If he cuts the throat of the victim from the front, he starts on her right side.

Which would suggest that Kelly's killer was either in front of her, or on her left side. If I recall correctly the coroner was of the opinion that she had been moved from the left side of the bed to the right. This might suggest that the killer was standing by the bedside table looking down at her when he cut her throat, then shoved her over to the other side of the bed so he could sit on the bed and complete the mutilations.

It's an idea.

[lynn cates]

Luxury, ugh!

Hello Miss Marple. Indeed. Makes you wonder why she gave up on posh West End life.

Cheers.
LC

[Sally]

Hello Miss Marple. Indeed. Makes you wonder why she gave up on posh West End life.

Cheers.
LC

Hey! Maybe Randolph Churchill was one of her clients there! I can't believe I never thought of that before. Doh.

[Wickerman]

...If I recall correctly the coroner was of the opinion that she had been moved from the left side of the bed to the right. This might suggest that the killer was standing by the bedside table looking down at her when he cut her throat, then shoved her over to the other side of the bed so he could sit on the bed and complete the mutilations.

It's an idea.

Hi Errata.
I think the way it is worded, Kelly had her throat cut while she was against the partition, therefore on the right side of the bed. Her body had been pulled towards the centre of the bed presumably by the killer who was standing on the left side, with his back to the windows.

If she had her throat cut while she lay on her back, which seems most likely, the killer may have been sat on top of her and, if right-handed, slashed her throat from right to left.
Or, perhaps he was left handed, or ambidextrous?

Regards, Jon S.

[Heinrich]

...

He [Blotchy] was the last suspect seen to enter Mary Kelly's room on the night of her murder as described by a reliable witness, and if you find Hutch's A-man story as hard to beleive as i do then Blotchy is the last person to be with Mary when she was alive. This would make him suspect number one to any detective. ...
Blotchy was the last "reliable" suspect seen with Mary in her room the night of her murder. ...

What persuades you into believing that Mary Cox was a "reliable" witness? She had a criminal record for two assaults, including one of a police constable in 1887 for which she received a prison term.
She claimed to have been in and out of her lodging the entire night long although she was a widow with a child to mind.
"Blotchy" with his "carroty moustache" (LOL) was not seen by anyone else before or since the murder. Clearly, he is entirely made-up.

No, the last person who admits to have been seen with Mary Kelly was Joseph Barnett; he's our man.

[Abby Normal]

Hi Errata.
I think the way it is worded, Kelly had her throat cut while she was against the partition, therefore on the right side of the bed. Her body had been pulled towards the centre of the bed presumably by the killer who was standing on the left side, with his back to the windows.

If she had her throat cut while she lay on her back, which seems most likely, the killer may have been sat on top of her and, if right-handed, slashed her throat from right to left.
Or, perhaps he was left handed, or ambidextrous?

Regards, Jon S.

Hi Wicker
Thanks for that. I think her position on the bed suggests that she had passed out with Blotchy on the bed with her. This could also help explain, if he was her killer, the longish time interval between there meeting and her murder(if one beleives her time of death was around 4:00).

[Abby Normal]

What persuades you into believing that Mary Cox was a "reliable" witness? She had a criminal record for two assaults, including one of a police constable in 1887 for which she received a prison term.
She claimed to have been in and out of her lodging the entire night long although she was a widow with a child to mind.
"Blotchy" with his "carroty moustache" (LOL) was not seen by anyone else before or since the murder. Clearly, he is entirely made-up.

No, the last person who admits to have been seen with Mary Kelly was Joseph Barnett; he's our man.

Hi Heinrich
because her story was corroborated by other witnesses.

BTW, I think barnett is a very viable suspect also.

[caz]

Barnett was a suspect, but he was cleared at the time after considerable questioning and has no record of violence towards any woman. The police would have kept their eye on him if they were not entirely satisfied that he could have had nothing to do with it. It would clearly have been in their interests if they could have charged him and made it stick, and they were far more used to domestic attacks than murder by stranger, when the victim was female.

That should make him one of today's least likely suspects, but there you go.

Love,

Caz
X

[Robert]

Caz, I think you're forgetting that the police were all thick as two planks, whereas Barnett was a genius who could have been a brain surgeon if he wasn't chained to fish.

[Heinrich]

...
because her story was corroborated by other witnesses. ...

This is not so, Abby.

Barnett was a suspect, but he was cleared at the time after considerable questioning and has no record of violence towards any woman.

It takes more than a few hours at the police station in the hope of getting a confession to make a case against a murderer, Caz.

The police would have kept their eye on him if they were not entirely satisfied that he could have had nothing to do with it. ...

Which explains why there was not another victim, perhaps.

[Sally]

No, the last person who admits to have been seen with Mary Kelly was Joseph Barnett; he's our man.

He might be your man Heinrich, but he sure ain't mine. No Siree. Kelly was not a domestic murder, Joseph Barnett didn't kill her. I doubt he had the imagination.

I personally favour an epileptic local man with a penchant for walking.

[Sally]

Which explains why there was not another victim, perhaps.

And that's balderdash. There could be a hundred and one reasons for the murders to have ceased. If they ceased.

[Abby Normal]

This is not so, Abby.


It takes more than a few hours at the police station in the hope of getting a confession to make a case against a murderer, Caz.


Which explains why there was not another victim, perhaps.

This is not so, Abby

she heard her say she was going to have a song, heard her singing and another witness also heard her singing.

[Heinrich]

This is not so, Abby

she heard her say she was going to have a song, heard her singing and another witness also heard her singing.

No one else saw the man with the blotchy face and a carroty moustache, Abby.