Questions for Fairclough

[lynn cates]

suspect

Hello David. Hutchinson seems to be as viable as Barnett.

Frankly, any time a lady is killed, police first suspect significant males in her life. And for good reason.

Cheers.
LC

[Abby Normal]

Hello again, well, that's how candidacies are all working, don't you think ? I could jump into any Kosminski thread and say : "he was just a harmless lunatic named by an old wishful thinker". And nobody could prove me wrong.
However, given Anderson's opinion, Swanson's marginalia, etc, I can easily understand why some are making Kosminski their fav suspect.
And the same with Hutch.
He was back from Romford and spent that cold night walking the streets.
Why not ?
He met Mary, whom he claimed to have known for 3 years.
Err....why not...even though none of them were living in Whitechapel 3 years before.
He saw a suspicious man with her. And guess what ? A Jew ! But not the sort of poor Jew you can see in old East End pics. No. Rather Mr King, who inspired Fu Manchu to Sax Rohmer.
Why not....? But errr....
And Hutch almost saw Astrakhan underpants.
Ok, he had good eyes. Quite amazing when compared to other witnesses testimonies, but why not...
Then, on the morrow, Hutch learnt that his friend Mary had been butchered. But he did not come forward.
Again, why not. But why ?
On Sunday morning...bingo ! Astrakhan again ! But still Hutch did not move.
Why ? Why not ? I don't know what to say.
Then the inquest, his coming forward, etc etc.
And right at the time he was supposed to help the police, looking for the man in the district....you know what ? He explained everything he was doing to the press, as if willing to warn the killer.

With all that, even if you don't favour Hutch as a suspect, you should at least understand why some consider him a possible one.

well said

[Wickerman]

Hi Dave.

And the same with Hutch.
He was back from Romford and spent that cold night walking the streets.
Why not ?

That claim comes from the same newspaper that mentioned "Sunday morning" and "the lodger who convinced me", etc. Do you really believe Hutchinson walked about all night?
He only told the police "I went away", any conclusions drawn about what he did next are pure conjecture.

He met Mary, whom he claimed to have known for 3 years.
Err....why not...even though none of them were living in Whitechapel 3 years before.

The address where Kelly is supposed to have stayed is just a short walk south of Berner St., she then moved to some place up on Commercial Rd, so she was not out of reach of Whitechapel or any locals.

He saw a suspicious man with her. And guess what ? A Jew ! But not the sort of poor Jew you can see in old East End pics.

It was common to finger Jews, the local Eastenders blamed them for all manner of ill's, anti-semitism was rife. What would be suspicious was if we knew he lied about the man's appearance, or if we knew the man did not exist.
We know neither, yet we are told that he lied in order to build a case against him. Does the name "Salem" come to mind?...

And Hutch almost saw Astrakhan underpants.
Ok, he had good eyes.

When a man is described as "of military appearance", it suggests he has standards. If he had spent some time in such an environment, this could quite easily account for his "eye for detail".
Yet, once again, some prefer to put a negative spin on a positive.

Then, on the morrow, Hutch learnt that his friend Mary had been butchered. But he did not come forward.

Right, keep your distance until you know more. This is not suspicious activity, nothing more than self preservation. Besides, rumour had it she was killed a good seven hours (9:00am) after he saw her. What use would his statement be?

On Sunday morning...bingo ! Astrakhan again ! But still Hutch did not move.

1 - Because he was not sure. Was he dressed differently, is this where the Astrachan coat was first seen?
2 - If Hutchinson was working at the market then certainly he was not free to leave his job.
3 - There was a policeman on point duty at markets, but again, if Kelly died so late on Friday morning, what use was his sighting?

And right at the time he was supposed to help the police, looking for the man in the district....you know what ? He explained everything he was doing to the press, as if willing to warn the killer.

This was on the 14th, he had already spent two nights (12-13) & two days (13-14) helping the police. Warnings tend to be most effective "before" an event, not "after"

With all that, even if you don't favour Hutch as a suspect, you should at least understand why some consider him a possible one.

"Possible" generally means "unsure", most of the persons pointing a finger at Hutchinson are "sure" to the point of "insisting on it".

Admitting to a degree of doubt might be more realistic.

Regards, Jon S.

[The Good Michael]

I'm working on a book in which Hutchinson was really Kelly's brother Johnto who had gone AWOL from the army and was acting as a pimp for his sister. It wasn't just her either. It began with Tabram. He used the Hutchinson alias because he was a deserter. The merit of this story is that it takes less filling in the blanks than the Hutchinson-as-ripper theory.

Mike

[DVV]

Be on your guard with theories that take little filling in the blanks, Mike. That's the hallmark of crappy books.

[The Good Michael]

Be on your guard with theories that take little filling in the blanks, Mike. That's the hallmark of crappy books.

Believe me, I know. I've read many of the suspect books.

Mike

[GregBaron]

Tight lipped...

Hi all,

It probably comes as little surprise to many that Mr. Fairclough has become as silent as the grave. He graciously answered my original snail mail with an email acknowledgement. I sent the letter to a previous address so he only heard through the new tenant that he had a letter of some sort.

Apparently when he read the letter his lips sealed up like a fearful clam. Not too surprising. Anyway, just wanted to reveal this to those who had forgotten.

Perhaps he will still reply although it seems unlikely, it's been several months now.

So Ruby and company, it's on to Plan B. Or is it C or D?


Greg

[DVV]

It probably comes as little surprise to many that Mr. Fairclough has become as silent as the grave.
Greg

Hi Greg.
As silent as Reg.
Case closed, as far as I'm concerned.
Better forget Fairclough, Reg and Toppy.

[GregBaron]

Indeed...

Hi Greg.
As silent as Reg.
Case closed, as far as I'm concerned.
Better forget Fairclough, Reg and Toppy.

No arguments here DVV. On to other issues........!


Greg

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
Must come back on this one, just to remind sceptics, that yours truly heard the same tale on radio some 18 years prior to the release of 'The Ripper and the Royals', making it clear that it was not invented for the publication.
There is absolutely no way the author was responsible for such a tale, unless he was the instigator way back in the 1970s, which is hardly likely.
As for the silence , we are talking about a publication some twenty years ago , which is history to the author, and rather like Toppings nephews wife, and McCarthy's great grand-daughter, who would want to converse, on a public forum, when it would not be received without mistrust..
Regards Richard.

[lynn cates]

update

Hello All. The following is an update on the BBC genome project.

Cheers.
LC

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/innovation/groups/cerch/research/seminars/2011-12/bbcgenome.aspx

[Rubyretro]

Thanks Lynn, that's very interesting. Maybe we'll finally find out about the radio programme.

Otherwise since we know that Fairclough read the letter, and chose not to defend himself or Reg, we can only assume the worst...his silence was eloquent.

[lynn cates]

B B C update

Hello All. Latest BBC update:

"The process of digitisation of the Radio Times magazines right back to 1923 will be completed by
the end of October 2012. The process of carrying out a quality check on the results of the
digitisation will go on until the end of 2012.

When are the results of the project scheduled to be released to the public?

There isn’t a release date scheduled as yet.

The BBC plans to publish the Radio Times/Genome schedules data on bbc.co.uk. It currently
publishes extensive programme information for programmes broadcast as far back as 2008 on
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes. This information is in a different format to the Genome data
and the BBC is working on the challenge of how best to integrate the two data sets.

In the first instance the BBC plans to publish the schedule data; not facsimiles of the actual Radio
Times pages themselves."

Cheers.
LC

[Cogidubnus]

Thanks Lynn...it's good to know someone's keeping tabs on this project...

(There must be surpus capacity in the Halls of Academe! )

All the best

Dave

[lynn cates]

finished

Hello All. Good news. The BBC project seems to have been completed.

Bad news, open to the public in a year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20625884

Cheers.
LC