Theory that Jack the Ripper was actually a woman could be proven with DNA breakthrough

Over one hundred years on from Jack the Ripper's heinous crimes, there is supposedly DNA evidence that the person behind the spate of murders could be a woman.

Historians say the unidentified serial killer brutally claimed the lives of at least five women by the names of Mary Ann Nichols, 43, Annie Chapman, 47, Elizabeth Stride, 44, Catherine Eddowes, 46, and Mary Jane Kelly, 25, between 31 August and 9 November, 1888.

The Ripper - who would kill mainly sex workers - has never been identified, although there are theories. For example, in 2007, researcher Russell Edwards purchased a shawl recovered from the scene of Eddowes' murder.

He says the shawl contained DNA of both the victim and a man named Aaron Kosminski, a Polish barber who moved to the UK in the 1880s. He also happened to be a prime suspect at the time.

“When we matched the DNA from the blood on the shawl with a direct female descendant of the victim, it was the singular most amazing moment of my life at the time,” he told Today in Australia.

“We tested the semen left on the shawl. When we matched that, I was dumbfounded that we actually had discovered who Jack the Ripper truly was.”

Another theory sees some claiming Jack the Ripper could, in fact, be 'Jill the Ripper'.

Some believe the Ripper was a woman (Getty Stock Photo)

Author William Stewart wrote about the theory in his book, Jack the Ripper: A New Theory, in which he supported a theory that if Jack were in fact Jill, then she would most likely be a midwife, due to the fact that the culprit must have been able to move around after dark without creating suspicion.

The person responsible must have also had some anatomical knowledge to have carried out the gruesome mutilations associated with the Ripper.

Adding to the theory, none of the victims were sexually assaulted, and it is believed that three small buttons were left behind at the scene of one murder, believed to be from a woman's boot.

At the time, there was one suspect, named Mary Pearcey, who was convicted of murdering her boyfriend's wife and their child, in what authorities said had similarities to the Ripper's spate of killings two years prior.

There could also be a potential DNA lead, too, that points to the Ripper being female.

A series of letters have been analysed (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images)

A DNA profiling expert was given access to a file of letters, which are believed to have been sent by the Ripper.

One included details that only the killer could have known and was sent with half of a preserved kidney, which the sender claimed they had already consumed half of.

Professor Ian Findlay took swabs from the saliva on the letter, which had been addressed to George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, to try to get a DNA profile.

“Our technology is leaps ahead of anything police have. Conventional techniques need between 200 and 500 human cells to gain a profile ours needs only one... We obtained profiles that indicate it’s very possible the Ripper could be female," he said.

At the time, there were theories that the kidney and the letter could have been a sick joke from a medical student.

The letter, which was titled 'From Hell', read: "Mr Lusk... Sor...

"I send you half the Kidney I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer...

"Catch me when you Can Mishter Lusk [sic].”