Two British police inspectors have made a remarkable find in the archives of the College of Policing. They (re)discovered the only known image of the face of the famous serial killer Jack the Ripper. They are engraved on a walking stick.
Let’s start with a disclaimer: Jack, the Ripper’s identity, is still unknown and will probably never change. But more than a century after his deeds, the UK still holds its breath with every ‘new’ discovery about the famous serial killer. Jack the Ripper went on a warpath in London in 1888 and murdered at least five women in three months.
How it was done was gruesome and curious at the same time. His victims were found with precise and thoughtful mutilations applied to the body. The serial killer, who enjoyed a game of cat and mouse, once even sent half a kidney from one of his victims to the police. In addition, he regularly delivered taunting notes to the inspectors, and each time signed “Jack the Ripper”.
The case is not only famous for the great mystery that surrounds it. Jack the Ripper single-handedly also modernized many police techniques. For example, it is through him that the police first began experimenting with offender profiling and crime scene conservation.
Despite all the efforts, Jack the Ripper was never caught. Much to the dismay of former Superintendent Frederick Abberline. Because the case absorbed him so much, his colleagues would have given him a walking stick with the suspected face of the serial killer engraved on it.
And that walking stick has now been found in the archives of the College of Policing. It is the only extant image of Jack the Ripper’s face. How the stick ended up in the archives is not entirely clear. But now it’s already getting a new destination: the cane will be displayed in the Ryton police training centre of the university.
