Man who discovered DNA on 100-year-old shawl 'confirming' Jack the Ripper’s identity speaks out on his finding
A man who discovered a DNA sample on a 100-year-old shawl says it has identified the real Jack the Ripper.
Researcher Russell Edwards claims he has found a '100 percent' DNA match with the infamous murder suspect in a recent interview with The Sun.
The Ripper has been known as the unidentified serial killer who committed his crimes in London’s Whitechapel district in 1888.
He is believed to have murdered at least five women - Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly - between 31 August and 9 November of that year.
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Who has been identified as Jack the Ripper?
Now, Edwards has extracted DNA from a shawl which was recovered from the scene of one of his victims. And the researcher says the name has come back as 'Aaron Kosminski', a barber from Poland who emigrated to London.
"It's very difficult to put into words the elation I felt when I saw the 100 percent DNA match," he told the outlet. "This brings closure and it's a form of justice for the descendants.
"He can't be prosecuted because he's dead but this is the closest thing they can do. This man committed atrocities towards their ancestors and we know it's him and we want the courts to say, 'Yes, you're right'."
For Edwards to get the most accurate DNA result, he found a living relative of Kosminski who was happy to be tested against. The positive match, according to the Ripper expert, means he may have finally cracked the case.
Has scientific analysis solved the mystery of Jack the Ripper?
"We put a huge amount of science that the shawl didn’t belong to the victim, and if it didn’t belong to the victim… because we always thought that the semen on the shawl was just one of her customers," Edwards previously told LADbible.
"We thought it was her shawl, but through the scientific analysis, we realised that she couldn’t have afforded to own it and realised the only person that could have left the shawl at the murder scene was him."
Dr Jari Louhelainen of Liverpool John Moore's University carried out forensic analysis of the shawl, which provided Edwards with his DNA evidence.
Although, Edwards insisted that police did actually know who he was.
He said: "Robert Anderson wrote his memoirs, The Lighter Side of My Official Life, and in there they admit they knew the identity of Jack the Ripper.
"They also say they knew the identity of the guy who wrote the name Jack the Ripper in the ‘Dear Boss’ letter but they didn’t want to tell tales out of school."
Anish Vij