Has he been named?

[Harry D]

This is one directed to the non-suspect theorists.

Do you think the likelihood is that the killer's name is somewhere buried in the mountains of police reports, newspaper clippings, speculations and more? Or was the killer such an obscure, elusive figure that he managed to completely avoid detection?

[Abby Normal]

This is one directed to the non-suspect theorists.

Do you think the likelihood is that the killer's name is somewhere buried in the mountains of police reports, newspaper clippings, speculations and more? Or was the killer such an obscure, elusive figure that he managed to completely avoid detection?

IMHO I think there is 90% chance his name is there somewhere whether a suspect, person of interest, witness or any peripheral player.

[Michael W Richards]

This is one directed to the non-suspect theorists.

Do you think the likelihood is that the killer's name is somewhere buried in the mountains of police reports, newspaper clippings, speculations and more? Or was the killer such an obscure, elusive figure that he managed to completely avoid detection?

Non suspect theorists...so I have a categorizable belief?

I believe that there is no single "suspect" that was within, or is within, any police file or record that was likely to be the man they sought for the Canonical Group slayings. I believe that there are very good suspects for some individual murders within that Unsolved File though. Trying to match just one man to all Five...or as some modern theorists seem to embrace, more than just that Five,...was never something that was going to work. Because based on just the existing evidence potential motives other than the mad killer satisfying bloodlust are suggested.

Its "The Killer"premise that has always been a detriment to the investigations and as a result, this study.

[Kattrup]

I do not think he has been named.

[Darryl Kenyon]

Yes, I am sure he was at least subject to a house to house enquiry at some point and possibly questioned, and his name put in a file somewhere along with scores of others. After the double event 300 men questioned, 80 detained for further questioning for example.
Regards Darryl

[Losmandris]

50/50 chance he was questioned as part of house to house enquiries. Otherwise no record at I reckon.

Tristan

[Sam Flynn]

50/50 chance he was questioned as part of house to house enquiries

Less than 50:50,, I'd say. Out of a total population of some 78,000 there would have been thousands of men of a feasible age to be the Ripper. If 300 were questioned after the Double Event, we're perhaps looking at a 1 in 10 chance of his being among them... or a 90% chance that he wasn't. The odds might be even worse if, as is possible, the police focused primarily on obvious baddies or weirdos, instead of the unremarkable "regular guys" that serial killers often turn out to be.

[Losmandris]

Less than 50:50,, I'd say. Out of a total population of some 78,000 there would have been thousands of men of a feasible age to be the Ripper. If 300 were questioned after the Double Event, we're perhaps looking at a 1 in 10 chance of his being among them... or a 90% chance that he wasn't. The odds might be even worse if, as is possible, the police focused primarily on obvious baddies or weirdos, instead of the unremarkable "regular guys" that serial killers often turn out to be.

Very good points!

Tristan

[Harry D]

Yes, I am sure he was at least subject to a house to house enquiry at some point and possibly questioned, and his name put in a file somewhere along with scores of others. After the double event 300 men questioned, 80 detained for further questioning for example.
Regards Darryl

We're also assuming he lived in the area. A plausible theory but not a proven fact.

[Darryl Kenyon]

Less than 50:50,, I'd say. Out of a total population of some 78,000 there would have been thousands of men of a feasible age to be the Ripper. If 300 were questioned after the Double Event, we're perhaps looking at a 1 in 10 chance of his being among them... or a 90% chance that he wasn't. The odds might be even worse if, as is possible, the police focused primarily on obvious baddies or weirdos, instead of the unremarkable "regular guys" that serial killers often turn out to be.

Hi Sam I would say there would have been more than a population of 78,000 men who could have perhaps been the Yorkshire ripper in the Bradford, Leeds area during Sutcliffe's reign of terror yet that's were the police initially focused their efforts and Sutcliffe was questioned nine times.

Also, house to house enquiry after the double event. If they dismissed Jack as a wandering lunatic or someone fresh out of the asylum, why bother with this? And why did Anderson come out with his controversial quote about they came to the conclusion that Jack was being shielded by certain Jews? Not that he was a lunatic who was being protected by his family. Yes, they did check asylum records but to me they also had a broader scope in mind as well.
Regards Darryl

[Michael W Richards]

Hi Sam I would say there would have been more than a population of 78,000 men who could have perhaps been the Yorkshire ripper in the Bradford, Leeds area during Sutcliffe's reign of terror yet that's were the police initially focused their efforts and Sutcliffe was questioned nine times.

Also, house to house enquiry after the double event. If they dismissed Jack as a wandering lunatic or someone fresh out of the asylum, why bother with this? And why did Anderson come out with his controversial quote about they came to the conclusion that Jack was being shielded by certain Jews? Not that he was a lunatic who was being protected by his family. Yes, they did check asylum records but to me they also had a broader scope in mind as well.
Regards Darryl

I wonder if that's a reference to Piser/Pizer?

[Darryl Kenyon]

We're also assuming he lived in the area. A plausible theory but not a proven fact.

That is true Harry, but sometimes you have to go off what you believe [ and what I feel most people think as well], and that he lived, or at the very least had a base somewhere in the heart of Whitechapel
Regards Darryl

[Sam Flynn]

Hi Sam I would say there would have been more than a population of 78,000 men who could have perhaps been the Yorkshire ripper in the Bradford, Leeds area during Sutcliffe's reign of terror yet that's were the police initially focused their efforts and Sutcliffe was questioned nine times.

The circumstances adhering to the - original - Ripper case were very different. In the case of Sutcliffe, police were initially able to narrow the field down to 8,000 men (including Sutcliffe) because they traced the serial number of a £5 note found with one of the victims. He was therefore interviewed (and sadly let off the hook) due to a focused piece of detective work, not as a result of a general house-to-house enquiry. Besides, given that many of his victims lived/worked away from Sutcliffe's home area, it's extremely doubtful that he would have been interviewed in a house-to-house exercise on any of those occasions.

[Darryl Kenyon]

The circumstances adhering to the - original - Ripper case were very different. In the case of Sutcliffe, police were initially able to narrow the field down to 8,000 men (including Sutcliffe) because they traced the serial number of a £5 note found with one of the victims. He was therefore interviewed (and sadly let off the hook) due to a focused piece of detective work, not as a result of a general house-to-house enquiry. Besides, given that many of his victims lived/worked away from Sutcliffe's home area, it's extremely doubtful that he would have been interviewed in a house-to-house exercise on any of those occasions.

Hi Sam, five of those interviews were down to Sutcliffe's car being spotted in the red light districts being monitored [ one more about banking arrangements and his buying and selling of cars] . I know this isn't house to house but it does suggest they were focusing on the areas were he attacked. I know that sounds obvious but back in 1970's England the police would probably surmise that it wasn't somebody on foot because of his ability to travel round West Yorkshire [ I am sure that it was suggested early in the inquiry that he may be a taxi driver or something similar], so he probably used a vehicle and lived somewhere between the murder districts [which he did], until of course the infamous fake tape. Now since Jack's crimes seemed to be so centralised in one area I believe it would be safe for the police to assume that he lived in said district. So the eighty people who were detained for further questioning around the double event were possibly mainly made up of people who were more likely to be in the district at nighttime without constraints [or possibly who had been spotted in the area at night and checked and maybe their name taken by a Bobby].
Regards Darryl

[Sam Flynn]

Hi Sam, five of those interviews were down to Sutcliffe's car being spotted in the red light districts being monitored [ one more about banking arrangements and his buying and selling of cars]

Hello Darryl. Again, being spotted and subsequently questioned isn't the same as the police knocking on doors on the off-chance that someone might know something, as they would in a house-to-house enquiry.

Maybe 5,000+ potential Rippers in Whitechapel, and only 300 men questioned. They were up against it, that's for sure.