BBC4 documentary Jack the Stripper Harold JONES

[The Station Cat]

Did anyone happen to watch this programme the night? If I'm honest I know very little about the case. I certainly wasn't aware that the killer was never caught!!! For those who haven't seen it, a team of experts suggest that the killer was a chap called Harold JONES https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Jones_(murderer)

Have a questions which I would be interested to hear other forums users view on........

As can be seen in the wiki link, JONES murdered two little girls in a Welsh village in 1921. He served 20 years in prison and was released in 1941, totally unrehabilitated, by the sounds of things. WW2 was raging at the time, wiki states that JONES joined the Merchant Navy whereas the documentary states that he joined the Royal Artillery and fought in North Africa, first question which was it?

Whichever it was JONES was demobbed in 1948 and goes to live in Fulham. I believe the first Jack the Stripper killing occurred in 1959. So if the killer was JONES what was he doing for 10 years, why did he suddenly start killing again?

The programme ends with the case being submitted to the Metropolitan Police Cold Case Department, so we will have to wait and see what the outcome is.............

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Cat,

i did watch the documentary. Excellent stuff.

I can’t answer your question but if you post it on the Hammersmith Nudes Murders thread I’m sure you will get a response as Neil Milkins posts on there (the guy that named Jones as a suspect.)

[The Station Cat]

Hi Cat,

i did watch the documentary. Excellent stuff.

I can’t answer your question but if you post it on the Hammersmith Nudes Murders thread I’m sure you will get a response as Neil Milkins posts on there (the guy that named Jones as a suspect.)

Cheers Herlock!!!

Going back to the documentary, I wonder whether the people who owned the house where the body had been hidden in the loft, was aware of that when they bought the house...................

[Herlock Sholmes]

Cheers Herlock!!!

Going back to the documentary, I wonder whether the people who owned the house where the body had been hidden in the loft, was aware of that when they bought the house...................

I don’t know but it would have been a the happiest of revelations. I post mainly on the Wallace Case thread and there’s an interview somewhere with a couple that owned the house (29 Wolverton Street) in recent years - they may still live there. The wife said that she wouldn’t have lived there if she’d known it’s history.

It it would be interesting to find out how sensitive people are. Maybe a thread heading - ‘Would you move into a murder house?’

[The Station Cat]

I wonder whether such places are more common than perhaps we'd like to think?

[The Station Cat]

Something else that I've just stumbled across in the documentary they make mention of John Du Rose being known as 4 day John, because he always solved cases within a working week. Yet wiki has Tommy Butler as having the nick name one day Tommy for the same reason? It's little inconsistencies that niggle at me. If they can't get basic facts like this right, then how can we be sure that more important details are not incorrect?

My main concern with having JONES as a suspect is why he there is a gap of 10 years or so between when he was demobbed and the killings? I suppose it could be argued that he kept his "urges" under wraps during this period perhaps?

[Trevor Marriott]

Something else that I've just stumbled across in the documentary they make mention of John Du Rose being known as 4 day John, because he always solved cases within a working week. Yet wiki has Tommy Butler as having the nick name one day Tommy for the same reason? It's little inconsistencies that niggle at me. If they can't get basic facts like this right, then how can we be sure that more important details are not incorrect?

My main concern with having JONES as a suspect is why he there is a gap of 10 years or so between when he was demobbed and the killings? I suppose it could be argued that he kept his "urges" under wraps during this period perhaps?

This documentary has been discussed on JTR forums .There were a number of issues I raised which should have been included in the documentary, one important one which might have eliminated him from suspicion. In reality the program was based mainly on speculation and conjecture and very little hard evidence. Certainly not enough to call him a prime suspect, more of a person of interest. A suspect documentary like we have seen so many times before where they try to make a case for a suspect, but always fail to mentiun anything that might eliminate that person.

https://www.trevormarriott.co.uk

[The Station Cat]

This documentary has been discussed on JTR forums .There were a number of issues I raised which should have been included in the documentary, one important one which might have eliminated him from suspicion. In reality the program was based mainly on speculation and conjecture and very little hard evidence. Certainly not enough to call him a prime suspect, more of a person of interest. A suspect documentary like we have seen so many times before where they try to make a case for a suspect, but always fail to mentiun anything that might eliminate that person.

www.trevormarriott.co.uk

Thanks Trevor, that's exactly the feelings I got when watching it.

Very similar to the Charles Cross was Jack the Ripper documentary of a few years back (but lets not go there now..)