Clues in newly-uncovered painting could prove the ARTIST is Jack the Ripper
A new book claims a painting by a Victorian artist - and Ripper suspect - contains clues that allude to his role in the murder of five prostitutes in East London in 1888
CLUES hidden in a newly-uncovered painting could prove that the artist behind it is infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper.
A new book claims the piece, by Victorian artist and Ripper suspect Walter Sickert, holds the key to finally discovering who the notorious East London serial killer really was.
Writer Paul Christian the artist left hidden clues which prove he was behind the murder of five prostitutes in 1888.
Christian was sent the painting in 2013 by an Essex art collector, Alper Hussain.
It shows a scene on the streets of London featuring three figures - one is thought to be Jack and two are his victims, Mary Kelly and Martha Tabram.
Christian says the painting shows a figure - believed to be Jack the Ripper - descending a staircase towards a woman resembling Mary Kelly, the last of Jack's five victims.
A second woman on the right-hand side of the painting wears a shawl with many red spots, alluding to the 39 times Martha Tabram was stabbed.
Numerous Ripper historians have claimed Tabram was the killer's unofficial sixth victim.
JACK THE RIPPER'S VICTIMS
- Mary Ann Nichols - Friday August 31 1888
- Annie Chapman - Saturday September 8 1888
- Elizabeth Stride - Sunday September 30 1888
- Catherine Stride - Sunday September 30 1888
- Mary Jane Kelly - Friday November 9 1888
OTHER SUSPECTED VICTIMS:
- Emma Elizabeth Smith - Tuesday April 3 1888
- Martha Tabram - Tuesday August 7 1888
The author also points to a set of railings in the work that appear to bear the numbers 1888 - the year Jack carried out his gruesome campaign of terror.
On the reverse of Sickert's painting is a doodle which Christian - author of The Inevitable Jack the Ripper - claims is the police chief who oversaw the hunt for the Ripper.
The partially rubbed out figure stands in front and is claimed to bear a resemblance to the then Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Charles Warren.
It is not known exactly when the painting was completed, but it would have to have been after Mary Kelly was killed in November 1888.
Speaking to The Sun Online, Paul Christian said: "After 130 years since the first murder and at least five years of my life, it's fantastic to finally be able to identify Jack the Ripper.
"Jack the Ripper was Walter Sickert and, though it took a while, we've finally got him."
His theory supports that of author Patricia Cornwell who has published two novels claiming Walter Sickert is the real Jack the Ripper: Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper—Case Closed and Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert.
But many do not believe the theory, despite Sickert claiming he lived in Jack the Ripper's old lodgings and even painted a scene called Jack the Ripper's Bedroom, including his own figure.
More popular theories include Monatgue John Druitt, a schoolmaster who was fired in 1888 and died of suspected suicide a month later.
WHO WAS JACK THE RIPPER: THE SUSPECTS
- Montague John Druitt - schoolmaster who died by suspected suicide
- George Chapman - barber who was hanged for poisoning three of his wives
- Aaron Kosminski - lived in Whitechapel and was admitted to an asylum in 1891
- James Maybrick - Liverpudlian cotton merchant murdered by his own wife but had a diary confessing to the murders
- Thomas Neill Cream - doctor found guilty of poisoning many women and hanged in 1892
- Thomas Heynes Cutbush - doctor with syphilis in the brain known to have stabbed multiple women
- Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale - it was alleged he fathered a child in the Whitechapel area and suspected either he or several others committed murder on his behalf to hide the indiscretion
Or George Chapman, a polish doctor's assistant who was found guilty of many other murders and hanged in 1903 as suspects.
In recent years suspicion has turned on Aaron Kosminski, also from Poland.
He was admitted to a lunatic asylum in 1891 and his DNA linked to the shawl of Catherine Eddowes.
The book also includes a never-before-published account of a woman who claims to have been chased by Jack the Ripper and escaped.
The Ripper is known to have murdered at least five prostitutes in and around Whitechapel.
Although many other murders were committed in the same area and time, the five murders attributed to the Ripper all have a signature cut to the throat and heavy bodily and facial mutilation.
Many men became suspects and an atmosphere of finger-pointing took over the area, but to this day no one has been able to prove who committed the murders.
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Stewart Evans, expert on Jack the Ripper and author of many books on the subject, takes issue with the evidence.
He told The Sun Online: "The idea that Sickert was 'Jack the Ripper' is not a new one which dates back to 1970.
"There is not one iota of genuine evidence to suggest that Sickert was a murderer."
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