When it comes to Jack the Ripper suspects, the case against many of them tends to crumble at the first hurdle.
Indeed, it has to be said that many authors who come up with a “new” suspect in the eternal and ever-growing hunt for the perpetrator of the Whitechapel atrocities tend to twist the facts to fit their theory, rather than the other way around.
EVIDENCE FOR JACK THE RIPPER
If anyone is going to be named as the perpetrator of history’s most infamous killing spree, then there are several criteria that must be established in order to ascertain their guilt.
Do they, for example, have a motive, be that motive a traditional one or simply a wish to control and kill others?
Most important of all is, can they be placed at the scene of the murders at around the time the murders took place?
Unfortunately, the case against the large majority of Jack the Ripper suspects tends to collapse at this point.
Indeed, many suspects cannot even be placed in the area at the times of the murders, let alone at the scenes of the crimes.
CHARLES ALLEN LECHMERE
One suspect who can, however, is Charles Allen Lechmere, who, under the name Charles Cross, appeared on the second day of the inquest into the death of Mary Nichols as the man who had discovered her body in Buck’s Row on August the 31st 1888.
CHRISTER HOLMGREN – CUTTING POINT
In a previous video, I interviewed Steven Blomer, author of the e-book Inside Buck’s Row, who presented the case for the defence of Charles Lechmere.
Wanting to learn about the case for the prosecution, I approached the author and journalist Christer Holmgren, who has been investigating the Jack the Ripper case for many years, and whose book, “Cutting Point”, presents the reader with a thoroughly researched, thought-provoking, and compelling case for Lechmere’s guilt.
I was delighted when he agreed to talk to me.
THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION
Christer believes that, far from simply finding the body of Jack the Ripper’s first victim, Charles Allen Lechmere was, in fact, the man who had just carried out her murder.
He presents a compelling case that, when Robert Paul, who came walking along Buck’s Row shortly after Charles Cross claimed he found the body of Mary Nichols, he actually interrupted Lechmere who was, at that moment, in the act of carrying out the murder.