The grisly story of Jack the Stripper reveals that his murders may have been more gruesome than even those of the infamous killer who inspired his name.
Evening Standard / Hulton Archive / Getty ImagesA policeman walk among children near the situation of one of the “ Jack the Stripper ” killings .
In the early hours of June 17 , 1959 , two law officers walking their rhythm in the suburbs of London made agruesome breakthrough . There in a parking lot lay the body of a immature womanhood , tucked inside a patch of marvelous Gunter Grass . The cleaning lady had been strangled and her clothes had been rip undetermined , disclose her breasts , and her underclothes and shoe were missing .
The police right away began asking the world if they knew anything about the young victim , soon identify as Elizabeth Figg , who had been working in the area as a woman of the street . The possessor of a nearby pub told constabulary that he had seen a dyad of headlight early in the dawn , and heard a charwoman holler just after the lights skip off . But otherwise , the constabulary had no leads .
Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesA policeman walks among children near the site of one of the “Jack the Stripper” killings.
The probe quick went cold , and eventually , police gave up hope of solving the whodunit of Figg ’s slaying . They dismissed the case as that of another unlucky prostitute who fall prey to a violent John . But while the biotic community settled back into its normal number , the killer remained free . And he would hit again .
In tardy 1963 , constabulary get wind the consistence of Gwynneth Rees in a dump less than a mile from the park where Figg ’s body had been found . Like Figg , Rees was rifle of her clothes , except for a single stocking . Unlike Figg , Rees had been decapitated with a shovel . The alike placement and the state of the body was the first signal to police that the two murders might be connected .
The next slaying came in other 1964 when the body of Hannah Tailford bend up along the banks of the Thames . She had been choke to death , and several of her teeth had been knocked out . Once again , the soundbox was stripped . Tailford ’s underwear had been forced down her throat .
In April , the body of a pregnant adult female named Irene Lockwood was happen near the internet site of Tailford ’s execution . By now , the police force realized they were chasing a in series orca . This think of that the clock was beat to find the killer before he take up again .
But as in all the other murders , there were no witnesses to the killing . And other than the way they died , the fact that they were all in all likelihood working as bawd , and the fact that some of their body seemed to have been put in in tender spot , the victim had no connection to each other .
The police were making little progression and by the end of the month , the killer had claimed a new victim , Helen Barthelemy . Like the other victims , she had been stripped . Once again , there were no witnesses , but the police did receive bit of automotive paint on the victim ’s dead body . don that the paint had add up from the killer whale ’s seat of work , the law began canvassing automotive shop in the sphere for suspect .
In the meantime , the press overtake fart of the story . Based on the fact that all the body were identify bare , the paper began bear on to the killer as “ Jack the Stripper , ” obviously a play on the “ Jack the Ripper ” Orcinus orca that had terrified London almost a century before . Like Jack the Ripper , Jack the Stripper preyed on immature prostitutes . And just as in the Ripper murders , the police were experience no luck finding the perpetrator .
shortly , three more Jack the Stripper victims were discovered . Police were able to find the same automotive paint on two of the body . And in one cause , a prostitute who worked with the victim was able-bodied to provide the law with a description of a man who had picked the victim up in his auto the Nox before the slaying . finally , law were able to track these leads down to a shop near the location of the concluding victim .
The paint used in the shop was a catch for the paint on the body . And the warmth in the shop might have explained why some of the bodies seemed to have been store in a warm place . The police reason out that Jack the Stripper was storing the body of the dupe in the shop before underprice them . But after interviewing the the great unwashed with access to the shop , they decided there was n’t enough grounds to make any arrests .
However , the police did begin follow one of the masses who worked as a security guard in the sphere , a Scots man named Mungo Ireland . But less than a month after the final murder , Ireland committed felo-de-se by car fumes . He left a government note for his wifesaying , “ To save you and the police looking for me , I ’ll be in the garage . ” After Ireland ’s death , the murders stopped .
But while that makes Ireland count like the most probable defendant , there are a few reasons to think he might not have been Jack the Stripper . Recent research into the case seems to suggest that Ireland was out of the state at the time that Barthelemy was killed . And there are a few other potential suspects in the killings .
Another man who lived in the area , Kenneth Archibald , actually confessed to one of the slayings . But he soon retract his confession . And because there was no other evidence , he was acquitted . Othershave suggestedthat notable boxer and actor Freddie Mills was behind the violent death . He does bear a svelte resemblance to the police sketch and trust suicide shortly after the murders stopped .
in the end , there was a convicted murderer named Harold Jones in the area at the metre of the Jack the Stripper killings . Jones ’ early crimes are very similar to the Stripper murders . But while several researchers have said Jones was probably the grampus , most of the grounds against him is circumstantial . And to this day , the case remains formally unsolved . Ultimately , we ’ll in all likelihood never have intercourse the true identity of Jack the Stripper .
After this looking at at Jack the Stripper , read up on the most likelyJack the Ripper suspectsand try the floor ofJack the Ripper ’s victim . Then , see whyJames Maybrickmight have been Jack the Ripper .
