Suggestion

[Pierre]

It's a brilliant theory Pierre.

Except for a few small details.

There were no "misunderstandings" about the door being locked or the key being missing.

The police were advised by the Divisional Surgeon not to effect entry to Kelly's room.

Surgeons don´t advice police, David.

Police advice divisional surgeons.

Pierre

[Pierre]

Hello Robert
Thanks for that. In the reference, the author actually says the door had been "partitioned off apparently by being nailed shut" - note the use of the word "apparently", and note also that it's the author's interpretation that we're reading here. BTW, Rob House is an author whose opinions I hugely respect, so he may well be right about the door.

The good news is that what Mr House says still supports the argument that it was no longer a functional door - indeed, if Rob House is correct, it had not only been nailed shut, but also covered by a layer of plaster or wallpaper.

Plaster or wallpaper, not in Mary´s room, so it can only have been in number 26. Some nails. Easy to break up in other words.

Regards Pierre

[Pierre]

PIERRE.

WHAT IS THAT? In the picture, in the upper left corner, there is the image of a knob-like thing. It's a black circle that is catching the light.

Hi Robert,

I don´t know. Some knob to hang things on? Since the door opens the other way according to the plan I should not say it is a door-knob. If it did open this way though, it could have been.

Regards Pierre

[David Orsam]

I suggest the killer broke up the door before the murder and closed it again so it looked normal. On the night of the 9th he opened the door when Mary Kelly was asleep and killed her in her sleep.

He got into her room, closed the door behind him and moved the table and bed in front of the door to barricade it so no one could get in.

During the inquest the coroner asked Prater if she had heard any beds or tables being pulled around in Mary´s room. So it is likely to have happened. The coroner must have gotten the information from Abberline.

This would also explain all the misunderstandings about the door being locked, the key beein missing, the police waiting for dogs and so on. The police at first couldn´t get into the barricaded room.

It's a brilliant theory Pierre.

Except for a few small details.

There were no "misunderstandings" about the door being locked or the key being missing. The police were advised by the Divisional Surgeon not to effect entry to Kelly's room. This was to avoid disturbing the scent for when the bloodhounds arrived. Once it was understood that the bloodhounds were not coming, entry was effected immediately by forcing the door. We know exactly what happened next because we have the testimony of Dr Phillips:

'On the door being opened it knocked against a table, the table I found close to the left-hand side of the bedstead and the bedstead was close up against the wooden partition...'

Perhaps those facts are inconvenient for your theory - and that is unfortunate - but the table and bed were not barricading the door.

[Sam Flynn]

Hello Robert

DJAs above-referenced source says the door was nailed shut and covered.

Thanks for that. In the reference, the author actually says the door had been "partitioned off apparently by being nailed shut" - note the use of the word "apparently", and note also that it's the author's interpretation that we're reading here. BTW, Rob House is an author whose opinions I hugely respect, so he may well be right about the door.

The good news is that what Mr House says still supports the argument that it was no longer a functional door - indeed, if Rob House is correct, it had not only been nailed shut, but also covered by a layer of plaster or wallpaper.

[Pierre]

My dear Pierre

You are suggesting that the killer entered via secret door.
You suggest MJK3 is the postioned shown by you as a barricade.

Therefore could you please explain the following( and please remember I have been following this case since the 1970 and you are not an expert as you tell us who has been looking at this for a few months):

1. Please explain MJK1? ARE YOU SAYING THE POLICE MOVED IT ALL BACK?

Yes, they must have done so. McCarthy knew the position of the furniture and was able to tell them this.

2. If the door is boarded up please explain how murder gets in with out waking MJK who just sits there and let's it happen to her.

No problem. Breaking up the door when Mary is out. Closing it to make it look normal. Coming in silently during the night through the same door.

3. If you are saying that point 1 is correct please tell us why?

To keep quiet about the door since it gave them important clues.

4. You are claiming that Dr Phillips and the police lied is that correct?

If keeping quiet is lying, then yes. But we don´t need to use that word if we don´t like it. Let´s just call it ordinary police work. The police wanted to find the killer and was in no position to share important evidence with the public.

Regards Pierre

[Robert St Devil]

PIERRE.

WHAT IS THAT? In the picture, in the upper left corner, there is the image of a knob-like thing. It's a black circle that is catching the light.

[Pierre]

Yes.
Fair chance the door was functional.
We don't know when "Mary's room" was partitioned off.
Access was via a door in the archway just before Mary's.


https://books.google.com.au/books?id...0court&f=false

Hi,

this is an interesting source.

Regards Pierre

[Pierre]

So, now that you know there is no "secret door", and no access to the interior stairs, carry on...........

Hi,

I have never called it a "secret door". It was the door in the doorway between the large and small room of 26 Dorset Street. You can easily see its position in the apartment plan.

I prefer to think the original door is the door we see as long as there is no evidence of another door being put there.

And Michael - why did they board up the windows in number 26?

Regards Pierre

[Robert St Devil]

Hello Sam Flynn.

DJAs above-referenced source says the door was nailed shut and covered.

[Pierre]

There was no other functioning door in Kelly's room, only the one (with the lost key) that opened into the passageway/courtyard of Miller's Court itself. The other "door", if such it was, was just one piece of (fixed) wood that formed the partition separating Room 13 from the hallway/stairwell of 26 Dorset Street. Kelly's bed was originally close to, and parallel, to this partition, and it seems it remained there until her body was found..

Hi Sam,

If this is correct - why did they board up the windows in number 26?

Regards Pierre

[Pierre]

To answer the questions regarding the "secret door", it was an old door for the street access that was used to build the partition wall. Its mounted there, its not functionally a door.

Hi,

Do you have a source for this?

Regards Pierre

[Sam Flynn]

He escaped through the other door which is a door in the apartment of number 26... [the killer] closed the door behind him and moved the table and bed in front of the door to barricade it so no one could get in.

There was no other functioning door in Kelly's room, only the one (with the lost key) that opened into the passageway/courtyard of Miller's Court itself. The other "door", if such it was, was just one piece of (fixed) wood that formed the partition separating Room 13 from the hallway/stairwell of 26 Dorset Street. Kelly's bed was originally close to, and parallel, to this partition, and it seems it remained there until her body was found.

If the bed was moved away from the partition, it was by the police or and/or photographer, not the killer. If moved, it need only have been far enough to allow the close-up photograph of Kelly's mutilated pelvic area to be taken.

[Pierre]

I can't seem to understand what I'm seeing here all I can make out is the hand. Can anyone explain this to me?

I am suggesting you are looking at the entrance door to Mary Kelly´s room from inside of it. It has hinges to the left on the photograph where the light also shines through. In front of the door is a table and the bed.

The door is often believed to having been locked. But I suggest that the killer wanted to make sure that no one could enter the room while he was at work there. So he barricaded the door with the table and the bed.

Because of this he had planned not to use this door for his escape after the crime. He escaped through the other door which is a door in the apartment of number 26. This doorway is in the apartment plan from 1890 and is showing the door being opened into number 26. It is marked "S" for shop but was often called "the shed". Prater lived above it and Mary´s room was a part of it in the apartment plan.

I suggest the killer broke up the door before the murder and closed it again so it looked normal. On the night of the 9th he opened the door when Mary Kelly was asleep and killed her in her sleep.

He got into her room, closed the door behind him and moved the table and bed in front of the door to barricade it so no one could get in.

During the inquest the coroner asked Prater if she had heard any beds or tables being pulled around in Mary´s room. So it is likely to have happened. The coroner must have gotten the information from Abberline.

This would also explain all the misunderstandings about the door being locked, the key beein missing, the police waiting for dogs and so on. The police at first couldn´t get into the barricaded room.

But since the saw the other door, leading to number 26, through the window, and since they must have been told about the entrance from the street into number 26 by McCarthy, they entered number 26 from the street.

And heaven knows what they might have found in there.

The windows in that apartment were boarded up.

In the Evening Express (I have no copy but if someone has they might want to share it) I think they wrote that the police boarded it up because they were afraid the killer would return and "use" the place.

I think Abberline kept silent about many things on this day, as did of course McCarthy (not wanting business to get any worse than it already did after the murder of Kelly) and Phillips. After all, Phillips must have taken the advice of the police.

Regards Pierre

[MysterySinger]

Well here's a theory from 2005...

http://www.casebook.org/dissertations/room-13-millers-court.html