The Diary — Old Hoax or New or Not a Hoax at All?​

[Iconoclast]

As I keep saying, Ike, but you never once acknowledge, a story told by someone who had no first hand knowledge of events but who was trying to decipher the words of a drunken man is quite likely to be garbled, at best.
You can keep going on about chronological errors in the affidavit or you can do something more productive.
I've given you the story as told by Michael Barrett himself, albeit while inebriated, so there can be no doubt that it was him speaking. Why don't you focus on that story instead?
And what's the issue with the eleven days? Are you saying it's too long or too short a period?

Goodness me, a drunken man signs an affidavit and a drunken man gives a first hand account of his forgery at a meeting, and that's good enough for you.

Some people might set a slightly higher standard of evidence.

Just saying.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Herlock -

In case you've missed it, or have been confused by lengthy word salads, the argument that the Diary supporters have presented over the past 30 years is that because Dr. Baxendale admitted that he didn't have much information about when nigrosine was introduced into writing inks, he was legally blind.

That's it in a nutshell. His lack of precise knowledge about the history of an additive means he couldn't see how the ink & paper samples behaved in solvent.

That's what they want you to believe.

Personally, I couldn't give a fig about Dr. B's knowledge of ink manufacturing, I only care that he had eyes in his head and described what he was seeing.

There is a highly ironic moment in Shirley Harrison's 'American Connection' where she demonstrates Dr. Baxendale's ignorance of when nigrosine was introduced by citing Pen, Ink, and Evidence by Joe Nickell, who traced its introduction to the 1860s.

Notice anything strange?

Shirley cites Nickell's expertise to discredit Baxendale, yet clearly it was Nickell himself, fully aware of Baxendale's full report, who endorsed Baxendale's ink solubility test and found it so significantly damning to all claims of the diary's alleged antiquity.

But then, perhaps Dr. Nickell was more judicious and fair-minded than those who now wish to push the date of the diary's creation backward, even though they profess not to care when it was written, provided it was finished before 9 March 1992 at 8 a.m.

Warmest regards, etc.

Thanks Roger. On checking what Dr. Nickell had to say, I see he wrote in his book:

"Actually, the paper is from the right period, but the ink was clearly applied this century - probably as recently as the document's nonexistent provenance suggests".

And he was an expert on forgeries.

[Iconoclast]

... comparing it to what Barrett actually said at Cloak & Dagger. I've done my best to paste it all in for you. Perhaps that's where your investigation should go no?

I think it's reasonable to say that I have done my fair share of investigating of all things Mike Barrett, including actually witnessing the watch rather than simply talking about it - oh, and transcribing the Cloak & Dagger Club meeting in its entirety.

But thanks for the suggestion, nevertheless ...

[Herlock Sholmes]

It was a long meeting and this is just a fraction of what he said and does not appear to include Keith Skinner's questions nor the audience's questions nor the truly horrendous bit at the end when Barrett picks a fight with someone who has committed the crime of mentioning his daughter's name.

But, then again, he was well in his cups at the time - disproving the old adage regarding 'In vitro veritas', I suggest.

Ike, I did say when introducing the material that it was what Barrett said when being interviewed by Keith Skinner so that obviously doesn't include the answers to questions he was asked by audience members afterwards. I only wanted to include Barrett's own words, not Keith Skinner's questions. As I said, I don't think I've left out anything that's relevant or material. I don't think the Q&A session after the interview added very much. I'd love to copy and paste the entire article but I can't do that. You've obviously read it. Anyone else can read it. If there's anything additional you want to include please do so.

Let me ask this. How is Barrett threatening an audience member in any way relevant to the story of how he created the diary? Why not focus on what is important, Ike, rather than going down all these silly side roads?

[Herlock Sholmes]

In all my years examining this case, this is - to me - the funniest moment of all. You'll like it because Alan Gray, Ace Detective, confirms your assumption that Anne Graham wrote the text into the Maybrick scrapbook and even introduces an affair between Tony Devereux and Anne (which - I should add - there is zero evidence for). It's a brilliant idea - Tony and Anne write the scrapbook then Tony gives it to Mike! It's the very last, parting comment from Gray that just cracks me up every time - it perfectly sums up his frustration at realising how Barrett had lied to him and used him for so long:

I ALAN RICHARD GRAY, make oath and state as follows:-

That I am a detective with Proctor & Collins Investigations of 91 Thornton Road, Liverpool, L16 2LP, in the County of Merseyside..

On Sunday the 18^th January 1998 I was waiting in Brook Road West, Waterloo, Liverpool, 23, when at 11.5pm [sic] I saw MICHAEL JOHN BARRETT. We then entered into a conversation, which I outline as follows:-

The initials AG represent myself and the initials MJB represent Mr Michael Barrett:-

AG: I said, “Thanks for the wildgoose chase over the blotting paper, Why do you tell so many lies”.
MJB: Laughing loudly, clearly under the influence of drink, Mr Barrett said, “That’s for you to find out”.
AG: “For many years, I have tried everything to get to the truth of this matter. I have protected you and looked out for you, been bodyguard and friend over a long period of time in which you run up a bill with me of over £3,000-00p. I have watched you con-some nice ladies take their money form them. I warned them and that’s why I can live with that. The nursing sister ‘clare’ from Southport. I think its an alias, you should leave her alone. You are a Rat, Scum and the biggest liar I have ever met”
MJB: Well Alan, you have to tell the tale right, its just like fishing, you play the line then just pull them in. I told you just what you wanted to know. I knew what you wanted to hear and then I had you believing.
AG: I realise now that you could’nt possibley have had anything to do with the ‘Jack the Ripper’ diary fraud, your to thick, to drunk and really quite unable to come up with such a creation, Now Devereux, that’s another kettle of fish, he wrote the diary or should I say he wrote the story lines and Anne Barrett wrote the diary, your Anne or should I say Devereux’s Anne, when you realised Anne and Devereux had something on the go, it turned you around, you were stupid, Anne made some very clever moves and you thought you had control, Anne sold you out all the way down the line, before you had finished your early morning drink.
MJB: **** you, my daughter saw all that happened, Annes a ****in bitch. I could really kill that cow.
AG: Rubbish, you haven’t got the guts to do anything, scum like you. You abused the resting place of Maybrick, broke the cross on his grave, and told me you did it with Devereux, God forgive you, that lie was very important lie to me, you set Devereux up for this matter and he could’nt defend himself. Your mate you said, “Rubbish” you knew he and Anne were at it, and you got the shock of your life when Devereux gave you the Diary, he and Anne had concocted.
MJB: I wrote the Diary with a little bit of help from Devereux he was a knowledgeable man, very intelligent and Anne Barrett wrote it down.
AG: Michael you can’t write, you can’t even lie properly these days, your pathetic. You made an attempt with a story ‘Daniel the Dolphin Boy’ what a load of rubbish, and Mrs Montgomery told me you stole the illustrations from another book. That’s what Mrs Montgomery meant when she said you would be charged for fraud, and here we go again, but Devereux’ talent was sadly missing on this occasion.
MJB: I wrote the Diary, did all the research which I gave to Shirley Harrison, and they all sold me out.
AG: Michael, can you not get it into your head that the Diary is a fraud, and you sold the Diary for £1. I suppose that’s all its worth, but you were with the right crowd all right, Feldman, The Publishers and Anne Barrett and the list goes on and on, Never-the-less you had the Diary alleged in your hand, put there by Feldman, Anne Barrett and Devereux, makes you think. This was one big set up and you Liverpools best con-man was conned, that’s the funny bit. They had the money, you had the promises.
MJB: I’ll have the last laugh, I’ll tell them all about it in court.
AG: Michael the Court will hear evidence not hearsay, can you comprehend this, Evidence, but not the evidence you had. Clare Ashton phone me about the other day mentioning the blotting papers that your Solicitor has. Another lie to a nice lady. I have confirmed with your Solicitor that there is no blotting paper.
MJB: I have told you everything, I destroyed all evidence when the Police came up from London. I have nothing left. I wrote the Diary, Anne wrote it down. I can’t say anymore, my daughter did witness a lot of what was going on. I know I owe you a lot of money, it was promised to me and I never got it. I’ll pay you back when I can.
AG: Michael, another lie, you received over £11,000 on one occasion and your Solicitor kept the lot you said, but again you had your share and you paid nothing off your debts. I have to tell you don’t call me as a witness, I’ll help you down. You are a liar and a cheat and if I had my way, you would be charged with Conspiracy. I have no intention of doing anything for you, giving evidence or being of any assistance.
MJB: Ha ha ha, I give my name to History, what love can do to a gentleman born.
AG: Don’t ring me anymore or contact me. I am going now before I kick the **** out of you.

I then left the area.

SWORN at Liverpool in the County of Merseyside, this 22^nd day of January 1998.

Seriously, what a sorry tale of complete losers ...

Thanks for posting Alan Gray's affidavit, Ike.

So, in a private conversation, Barrett says:

"I wrote the Diary with a little bit of help from Devereux he was a knowledgeable man, very intelligent and Anne Barrett wrote it down.... I wrote the Diary, did all the research which I gave to Shirley Harrison, and they all sold me out....I have told you everything, I destroyed all evidence when the Police came up from London. I have nothing left. I wrote the Diary, Anne wrote it down. I can’t say anymore, my daughter did witness a lot of what was going on."

I find it interesting that Barrett says he destroyed all the evidence when the police were involved. That does make sense. He seems to be very consistent in saying that that he wrote the diary and Anne wrote it down. He also seems to be consistent in saying his daughter witnessed it.

Although Gray obviously didn't believe him, I still can't see why this couldn't have happened. I'm waiting patiently for someone to tell me. But no-one ever does.

[Herlock Sholmes]

It's just a perfectly acceptable alternative for 'issue'.

Nothing to see here, dear readers, bar the green shoots of utter desperation of course.

Well, Ike, if you were trying to say, "The original issue was around how much of Barrett's affidavit had been confirmed (or accepted as true)", that wasn't the original issue. The original issue, as raised by Roger, was that the affidavit contains some elements which have been confirmed, so is worth intelligently investigating on that basis. It was only you and Erobitha who raised a totally different issue about which elements had been confirmed. But now that you've finally worked it all out, and discovered that what Roger said was true, it would be nice if you could finally "intelligently investigate" Michael Barrett's affidavit which I would say, rather than trying to find typos and minor dating errors, first of all involves comparing it to what Barrett actually said at Cloak & Dagger. I've done my best to paste it all in for you. Perhaps that's where your investigation should go no?

[Herlock Sholmes]

In the meantime, the following are the glorious truths revealed by Mike Barrett's sworn affidavit of January 5, 1995, which to date have been confirmed and which give you, Orsam, and RJ such hope (did you ever think you'd be such a Barrett Believer that you would so quickly join such illustrious company?):

she paid for the Diary by cheque in the amount of L25 which was drawn on her Lloyds Bank Account, Water Street Branch, Liverpool.

When this Diary arrived in teh post

it was very small.

My wife is now in possession of this Diary in fact she asked for it specifically recently when I saw her at her home address XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

During this period

Tony Devereux was house-bound, very ill

which I purchased in 1985, from Dixons in Church Street, Liverpool City Centre.

When I eventually did the deal with Robert Smith, he took possession of the Diary and it went right out of my control.

and my Solicitors are now engaged in litigation.

I became so frightened that I sort (sic) the help of a Private Detective Alan Gray and complaints were made to the Police which I understand are still being pursued

It was about 1st week in December 1994 that my wife Anne Barrett visited me

and we even made love

I don’t know about anyone else, but reading these confirmed elements of Barrett’s affidavit sends a shiver down my spine at the ruthless cunning and daring of this pair. I feel like I’m literally transported to 12 Goldie Street in April 1992 as Mike and Anne worked for eleven (eleven?????) crazy days in the goldrush of forging passion to produce a document barely dry on the page which fooled so many people a few days later and which still brings raging debate today, thirty-odd years later. It’s a chilling document filled with fine and obviously felicitous detail. “When this Diary arrived in teh post”, ”Tony Devereux was house-bound, very ill”, “and my Solicitors are now engaged in litigation” – it’s a cascade of self-evident revelation and God’s Honest Truth, and what have you. It really makes you wonder why so few people believe a word of it!

As I keep saying, Ike, but you never once acknowledge, a story told by someone who had no first hand knowledge of events but who was trying to decipher the words of a drunken man is quite likely to be garbled, at best.

You can keep going on about chronological errors in the affidavit or you can do something more productive.

I've given you the story as told by Michael Barrett himself, albeit while inebriated, so there can be no doubt that it was him speaking. Why don't you focus on that story instead?

And what's the issue with the eleven days? Are you saying it's too long or too short a period?

[rjpalmer]

Hi Herlock -

In case you've missed it, or have been confused by lengthy word salads, the argument that the Diary supporters have presented over the past 30 years is that because Dr. Baxendale admitted that he didn't have much information about when nigrosine was introduced into writing inks, he was legally blind.

That's it in a nutshell. His lack of precise knowledge about the history of an additive means he couldn't see how the ink & paper samples behaved in solvent.

That's what they want you to believe.

Personally, I couldn't give a fig about Dr. B's knowledge of ink manufacturing, I only care that he had eyes in his head and described what he was seeing.

There is a highly ironic moment in Shirley Harrison's 'American Connection' where she demonstrates Dr. Baxendale's ignorance of when nigrosine was introduced by citing Pen, Ink, and Evidence by Joe Nickell, who traced its introduction to the 1860s.

Notice anything strange?

Shirley cites Nickell's expertise to discredit Baxendale, yet clearly it was Nickell himself, fully aware of Baxendale's full report, who endorsed Baxendale's ink solubility test and found it so significantly damning to all claims of the diary's alleged antiquity.

But then, perhaps Dr. Nickell was more judicious and fair-minded than those who now wish to push the date of the diary's creation backward, even though they profess not to care when it was written, provided it was finished before 9 March 1992 at 8 a.m.

Warmest regards, etc.

[Iconoclast]

In all my years examining this case, this is - to me - the funniest moment of all. You'll like it because Alan Gray, Ace Detective, confirms your assumption that Anne Graham wrote the text into the Maybrick scrapbook and even introduces an affair between Tony Devereux and Anne (which - I should add - there is zero evidence for). It's a brilliant idea - Tony and Anne write the scrapbook then Tony gives it to Mike! It's the very last, parting comment from Gray that just cracks me up every time - it perfectly sums up his frustration at realising how Barrett had lied to him and used him for so long:

I ALAN RICHARD GRAY, make oath and state as follows:-

That I am a detective with Proctor & Collins Investigations of 91 Thornton Road, Liverpool, L16 2LP, in the County of Merseyside..

On Sunday the 18^th January 1998 I was waiting in Brook Road West, Waterloo, Liverpool, 23, when at 11.5pm [sic] I saw MICHAEL JOHN BARRETT. We then entered into a conversation, which I outline as follows:-

The initials AG represent myself and the initials MJB represent Mr Michael Barrett:-

AG: I said, “Thanks for the wildgoose chase over the blotting paper, Why do you tell so many lies”.
MJB: Laughing loudly, clearly under the influence of drink, Mr Barrett said, “That’s for you to find out”.
AG: “For many years, I have tried everything to get to the truth of this matter. I have protected you and looked out for you, been bodyguard and friend over a long period of time in which you run up a bill with me of over £3,000-00p. I have watched you con-some nice ladies take their money form them. I warned them and that’s why I can live with that. The nursing sister ‘clare’ from Southport. I think its an alias, you should leave her alone. You are a Rat, Scum and the biggest liar I have ever met”
MJB: Well Alan, you have to tell the tale right, its just like fishing, you play the line then just pull them in. I told you just what you wanted to know. I knew what you wanted to hear and then I had you believing.
AG: I realise now that you could’nt possibley have had anything to do with the ‘Jack the Ripper’ diary fraud, your to thick, to drunk and really quite unable to come up with such a creation, Now Devereux, that’s another kettle of fish, he wrote the diary or should I say he wrote the story lines and Anne Barrett wrote the diary, your Anne or should I say Devereux’s Anne, when you realised Anne and Devereux had something on the go, it turned you around, you were stupid, Anne made some very clever moves and you thought you had control, Anne sold you out all the way down the line, before you had finished your early morning drink.
MJB: **** you, my daughter saw all that happened, Annes a ****in bitch. I could really kill that cow.
AG: Rubbish, you haven’t got the guts to do anything, scum like you. You abused the resting place of Maybrick, broke the cross on his grave, and told me you did it with Devereux, God forgive you, that lie was very important lie to me, you set Devereux up for this matter and he could’nt defend himself. Your mate you said, “Rubbish” you knew he and Anne were at it, and you got the shock of your life when Devereux gave you the Diary, he and Anne had concocted.
MJB: I wrote the Diary with a little bit of help from Devereux he was a knowledgeable man, very intelligent and Anne Barrett wrote it down.
AG: Michael you can’t write, you can’t even lie properly these days, your pathetic. You made an attempt with a story ‘Daniel the Dolphin Boy’ what a load of rubbish, and Mrs Montgomery told me you stole the illustrations from another book. That’s what Mrs Montgomery meant when she said you would be charged for fraud, and here we go again, but Devereux’ talent was sadly missing on this occasion.
MJB: I wrote the Diary, did all the research which I gave to Shirley Harrison, and they all sold me out.
AG: Michael, can you not get it into your head that the Diary is a fraud, and you sold the Diary for £1. I suppose that’s all its worth, but you were with the right crowd all right, Feldman, The Publishers and Anne Barrett and the list goes on and on, Never-the-less you had the Diary alleged in your hand, put there by Feldman, Anne Barrett and Devereux, makes you think. This was one big set up and you Liverpools best con-man was conned, that’s the funny bit. They had the money, you had the promises.
MJB: I’ll have the last laugh, I’ll tell them all about it in court.
AG: Michael the Court will hear evidence not hearsay, can you comprehend this, Evidence, but not the evidence you had. Clare Ashton phone me about the other day mentioning the blotting papers that your Solicitor has. Another lie to a nice lady. I have confirmed with your Solicitor that there is no blotting paper.
MJB: I have told you everything, I destroyed all evidence when the Police came up from London. I have nothing left. I wrote the Diary, Anne wrote it down. I can’t say anymore, my daughter did witness a lot of what was going on. I know I owe you a lot of money, it was promised to me and I never got it. I’ll pay you back when I can.
AG: Michael, another lie, you received over £11,000 on one occasion and your Solicitor kept the lot you said, but again you had your share and you paid nothing off your debts. I have to tell you don’t call me as a witness, I’ll help you down. You are a liar and a cheat and if I had my way, you would be charged with Conspiracy. I have no intention of doing anything for you, giving evidence or being of any assistance.
MJB: Ha ha ha, I give my name to History, what love can do to a gentleman born.
AG: Don’t ring me anymore or contact me. I am going now before I kick the **** out of you.

I then left the area.

SWORN at Liverpool in the County of Merseyside, this 22^nd day of January 1998.

Seriously, what a sorry tale of complete losers ...

[rjpalmer]

When someone is making a series of claims about anything (as Barrett did in his affidavit), the burden of proof lies heavy on their shoulders and to have so very little confirmed means that no-one should take any of it seriously.

Then why haven't you hurled the Maybrick confessional into the cesspool?

[Iconoclast]

It was a long meeting and this is just a fraction of what he said and does not appear to include Keith Skinner's questions nor the audience's questions nor the truly horrendous bit at the end when Barrett picks a fight with someone who has committed the crime of mentioning his daughter's name.

But, then again, he was well in his cups at the time - disproving the old adage regarding 'In vitro veritas', I suggest.

[Iconoclast]

There wasn't an "original question", Ike.

It's just a perfectly acceptable alternative for 'issue'.

Nothing to see here, dear readers, bar the green shoots of utter desperation of course.

[Herlock Sholmes]

I assume you mean the Cloak & Dagger Club meeting in 1999?

Unfortunately, Mike appeared to be inebriated so his terrible performance and failure to provide any corroborating evidence or even speak cogently of the events detailed in the affidavit have provided his supporters with a Get Out of Jail card. You should perhaps refer to Orsam's A Man in a Pub article on his website as a truly priceless example of what you have been attempting to do with the affidavit - that is, ignore everything which is just patently incorrect or unproven and shoehorn in a story which happens to fit the story you want to tell. It's a classic.

I'm surprised you directed me to Orsam's site, Ike. I'd have thought you'd have wanted to set it all out yourself. But, okay ,I went over there, and I've copied and pasted everything he's recorded Mike as saying about creating the diary during his interview by Keith Skinner. I've done my best to try and include everything material and relevant:

'I’ve been writing, god knows, I’ve been writing for an awful long time. So I phoned David Burness. And he produces a magazine. And the magazine is called Celebrity magazine. This is very, very, important. This is where the Diary starts. Now, David Burness produces Celebrity magazine. Meanwhile, I go along and, you can go and check these facts, look at the people I interviewed. I interviewed Kenneth Williams, Bonnie Langford, various people… and I do all the interviews, so I come back and I write it on a word processor. Right. And I’m only making about £120 if I’m lucky. Then Maggie dies. Now you are going to ask, 'who is Maggie?' Maggie is Billy Graham’s father, mother, sorry I do apologise. And when she dies, she dies on New Year’s Eve. And I thought to myself, my life has totally changed here, 1987, get that wrote down, 1987. So, in 1987 I turn round and thought to myself oopsie daisie and Anne - Anne - wants me to build up a mortgage. I didn’t have the money. That’s a fact. I’ll be perfectly honest with you. I only had £600 at the time. £600 wasn’t enough to pay for the mortgage. It was like that. It was half and half. So I paid the mortgage and we moved to 12 Goldie Street, G-O-L-D-I-E S-T-R-E-T-T right, and the reason I’m spelling all this is just to prove that I’m not illiterate. I think that’s exceedingly important because according to Anne I can’t string two sentences together. So we moved to Goldie Street and Goldie Street was, shall we say, a tie around my neck, and I mean literally a tie around my neck, it was hanging me, I couldn’t keep up with the mortgage so I thought to myself, okay, I’ve been writing for David Burness, Celebrity magazine, I’ve been writing for Chat Magazine, I’ve been writing for Look-In Magazine. I’ve been writing for all these magazines. And I thought to myself, okay Michael, let’s do a Sir Walter Scott. Now anybody is in here, is shall we say familiar with English literature? Sir Walter Scott, if you know anything about Sir Walter Scott. Sir Walter Scott was in a hell of a lot of trouble in the past. And what Sir Walter Scott done, he wrote himself out of it. I mean, literally, he wrote himself out of it. He wrote Ivanhoe. And that’s a god given fact. And that is a god given fact. So I thought to myself, I’ll do the same, I’ll write myself out if it. I’ll write myself out of the – well, if you forgive me ladies and gentleman, I do apologise, s-h-i-t. Right. Because I don’t want to swear. So I thought to myself I’ll write myself out of it. So I wrote myself out of it. Well, I thought I wrote myself out of it. … I’m serious.....So when I wrote it, all of a sudden the Diary gets on the shelf [by which he means in the shops], the Diary becomes genuine and I know and I totally know that the Diary is false. I know because I know I’ve wrote it, but I haven’t wrote it. Anne’s wrote it. Now always remember that fact ladies and gentlemen. Anne wrote it. It’s in her handwriting. Now always remember that fact. That’s a god given fact. So all of a sudden, oopsie daisie. I said, “I’m not having this”. And remember I’ve got a daughter. I’ve got a daughter called Caroline. And I haven’t seen her. I’ve lost track of her. I know she lives in [gives her address] Liverpool. Or do I?.... I’ve lost a daughter. And I turned round and said to Anne, you don’t, no matter what you do, and I mean this, and I mean this today, you don’t use children, you don’t use children. Anne did. Anne did. No question about it. She used Caroline. And she used me. It’s what we call emotional blackmail for want of a better word. It’s not blackmail but I have to say it was emotional blackmail. Anne turned round to me and said "If you tell the truth about the Diary of Jack the Ripper, that you wrote it and I wrote it, right, I’ll make sure", a god given fact, – and she swore on the bible, "I’ll make sure, I’ll guarantee, that you never see Caroline again." Well that to me is totally blackmail. My advice is never to give in to blackmail. My advice will go to its grave and I'll still never give in to blackmail. But Anne said that. Anne, true to her word…And she really did say it. And she blackmailed me, and she blackmailed me with my daughter....I said I think I’ve got the diary of Jack the Ripper here, do you understand? Doreen fell for it left, right and centre. So all I had to do was come out and find the Diary of Jack the Ripper and write it. It took me eleven days flat to write..... if she wouldn't have believed the con, I would never have carried on with the con.....I was doing a con. Right....I said I think I've got the Diary of Jack the Ripper. Right. I'm not "sure", I'm not "certain" but I think I really have got it. Right. Remember, I know it's a con... looked in the bookshelf and I found Pan Books. So I phoned Pan Books up and I said "Listen, I really sincerely believe I own the diary of Jack the Ripper - however, I don't have 100% proof. I can't prove it." And they advised me, they said, "We don't work it this way, we don't work it this way, you need an agent." Emphasise an agent. So, they turned round and said, "Doreen Montgomery"....The red ledger, if you understand me, is so small it's untrue. And I thought to myself "Oh sugarlumps". It's no good...It's a Victorian diary but I thought to myself "no good". So I said to myself "Whoopsie daisy. I've just gone and sold the idea to Doreen Montgomery. Now I've got to produce the goods." Are you with me?...Now I'm stuck...all I've got is a little red diary...So I turn around and I go to Outhwaite & Litherland which is operating.... I want to bring her in now. Anna Koren... The person who write this diary, according to Anna Koren, the world’s [greatest] handwriting expert and what have you, has got a multiple, and I mean multiple, because I’m quoting....Anna Koren, Anna Koren states quite categorically. Paul Feldman flies her in from Israel. She’s the world’s leading handwriting expert, agreed? Or not? Will everybody agree with me because that’s what’s in the Diary. So Anna Koren gets flied in, right, from Paul Feldman, she looks at the Diary. She doesn’t know it’s the diary of Jack the Ripper.....I never hand wrote it, Anne hand wrote it, that’s the difference.,,,Anne actually wrote it in her handwriting......Anne blackmailed me with Caroline. She turned round to me...at the book launch and said I’ll never see Caroline again. I’m telling the truth.....I'll tell you how it hurts. Excuse me ladies and gentlemen. I’ll tell you how it hurts. It hurts there through the heart. It kills me from the heart because Anne has lied and she’s used Caroline as a blackmail threat.....What do you do with the ink? You put a little bit of sugar in it.....I’ll tell you what, we’ll go down there if there are any shops here open now, and we’ll go and get the ink, and we’ll go and get sugar, when you put the sugar in the ink, and you go… the molecules are totally messed up so therefore you can’t produce the exact ink.....So when you do the Diamine ink, right I’m thinking to myself oh I’ve got Diamine ink here, do you understand what I mean, I thought to myself, ooh sugar lumps here. And I mean literally sugar lumps. I thought to myself I can’t produce that Diamaine ink. That can be traced. That can be traced. So I’m putting sugar in and mixing it all up and about, that can’t be traced.'

Perhaps best to concentrate on this story from his own lips rather than one from someone else who might have misunderstood what he was saying.

[Iconoclast]

In the meantime, the following are the glorious truths revealed by Mike Barrett's sworn affidavit of January 5, 1995, which to date have been confirmed and which give you, Orsam, and RJ such hope (did you ever think you'd be such a Barrett Believer that you would so quickly join such illustrious company?):

she paid for the Diary by cheque in the amount of L25 which was drawn on her Lloyds Bank Account, Water Street Branch, Liverpool.

When this Diary arrived in teh post

it was very small.

My wife is now in possession of this Diary in fact she asked for it specifically recently when I saw her at her home address XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

During this period

Tony Devereux was house-bound, very ill

which I purchased in 1985, from Dixons in Church Street, Liverpool City Centre.

When I eventually did the deal with Robert Smith, he took possession of the Diary and it went right out of my control.

and my Solicitors are now engaged in litigation.

I became so frightened that I sort (sic) the help of a Private Detective Alan Gray and complaints were made to the Police which I understand are still being pursued

It was about 1st week in December 1994 that my wife Anne Barrett visited me

and we even made love

I don’t know about anyone else, but reading these confirmed elements of Barrett’s affidavit sends a shiver down my spine at the ruthless cunning and daring of this pair. I feel like I’m literally transported to 12 Goldie Street in April 1992 as Mike and Anne worked for eleven (eleven?????) crazy days in the goldrush of forging passion to produce a document barely dry on the page which fooled so many people a few days later and which still brings raging debate today, thirty-odd years later. It’s a chilling document filled with fine and obviously felicitous detail. “When this Diary arrived in teh post”, ”Tony Devereux was house-bound, very ill”, “and my Solicitors are now engaged in litigation” – it’s a cascade of self-evident revelation and God’s Honest Truth, and what have you. It really makes you wonder why so few people believe a word of it!

[Iconoclast]

What you should be focusing your energy on is the central story of the affidavit which is that Mike dictated the text of the diary to his wife who wrote it down in eleven days. As to that, I've seen references in posts to Mike telling the story of the forgery at a public meeting a few years after the affidavit. Are you able to tell me exactly what he said at that meeting in respect of creating the diary? It seems to me we'd be better off focusing on what he definitely said rather than what someone else typed in an affidavit on his behalf.

I assume you mean the Cloak & Dagger Club meeting in 1999?

Unfortunately, Mike appeared to be inebriated so his terrible performance and failure to provide any corroborating evidence or even speak cogently of the events detailed in the affidavit have provided his supporters with a Get Out of Jail card. You should perhaps refer to Orsam's A Man in a Pub article on his website as a truly priceless example of what you have been attempting to do with the affidavit - that is, ignore everything which is just patently incorrect or unproven and shoehorn in a story which happens to fit the story you want to tell. It's a classic.