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There has been a lot of previous discussion on whether or not Eddowes was first stabbed several times through her clothing before the killer lifted them up above her waist which is the position they were found in.
In an attempt to prove or disprove this issue. I again contacted Dr Biggs my forensic pathologist for his opinion. I provided him with the list of her clothing from the mortuary, along with Dr Browns inquest testimony, and a photo of the body of Eddowes after her autopsy.
His written opinion is as follows
" On the one hand, it seems most logical / likely that where cuts in clothing overlap skin wounds, the stab was made through the clothing (and we certainly see this sort of thing on a regular basis). On the other hand, there is nothing to stop somebody cutting clothing after it has been moved, and it simply resembling a stab through clothing.
There is nothing specific about the way the material is cut or how it is blood-stained to assist with determining this one way or the other.
The image of the body after post-mortem does correlate with the autopsy report to a degree, but the standard autopsy incisions will add to the overall skin defects, and after stitching back up then a lot of information is no longer apparent. It’s a shame there are no available photos from before the autopsy(?), as they would be more informative.
Stabbing incidents are usually very dynamic affairs, and there is often considerable movement by both parties. Even if the victim was very quickly incapacitated by profuse blood loss, she is likely to have put up a fight / struggle initially (unless she was completely intoxicated, for example). An initial struggle might have resulted in stabs that missed their intended target, or stabs may not have been particularly well-aimed if there was just a general stabbing frenzy. During this time, overlapping layers of clothing may have been moving around in an unpredictable manner, etc. and so it becomes impossible to say exactly how things were arranged at the time. Matching up clothing cuts with underlying skin cuts is difficult and then trying to match up internal injuries gets even less reliable.
Getting back to the question in hand, I would favor the cuts have been made through clothing and then the clothing having been lifted up afterwards (possibly / probably followed by further cuts to the body)… but this is based on commons sense / what we tend to see in “standard” cases, rather than any pathological observations from this particular case."
www.trevormarriott.co.uk
In an attempt to prove or disprove this issue. I again contacted Dr Biggs my forensic pathologist for his opinion. I provided him with the list of her clothing from the mortuary, along with Dr Browns inquest testimony, and a photo of the body of Eddowes after her autopsy.
His written opinion is as follows
" On the one hand, it seems most logical / likely that where cuts in clothing overlap skin wounds, the stab was made through the clothing (and we certainly see this sort of thing on a regular basis). On the other hand, there is nothing to stop somebody cutting clothing after it has been moved, and it simply resembling a stab through clothing.
There is nothing specific about the way the material is cut or how it is blood-stained to assist with determining this one way or the other.
The image of the body after post-mortem does correlate with the autopsy report to a degree, but the standard autopsy incisions will add to the overall skin defects, and after stitching back up then a lot of information is no longer apparent. It’s a shame there are no available photos from before the autopsy(?), as they would be more informative.
Stabbing incidents are usually very dynamic affairs, and there is often considerable movement by both parties. Even if the victim was very quickly incapacitated by profuse blood loss, she is likely to have put up a fight / struggle initially (unless she was completely intoxicated, for example). An initial struggle might have resulted in stabs that missed their intended target, or stabs may not have been particularly well-aimed if there was just a general stabbing frenzy. During this time, overlapping layers of clothing may have been moving around in an unpredictable manner, etc. and so it becomes impossible to say exactly how things were arranged at the time. Matching up clothing cuts with underlying skin cuts is difficult and then trying to match up internal injuries gets even less reliable.
Getting back to the question in hand, I would favor the cuts have been made through clothing and then the clothing having been lifted up afterwards (possibly / probably followed by further cuts to the body)… but this is based on commons sense / what we tend to see in “standard” cases, rather than any pathological observations from this particular case."
www.trevormarriott.co.uk
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