DNA clue helps 'unmask' notorious Jack the Ripper mystery in bombshell new book

An author who has dedicated nearly three decades to the Jack the Ripper case believes he has revealed the true face of history's most notorious serial killer .

Russell Edwards, a seasoned Ripper researcher, has harnessed cutting-edge facial remodelling technology to craft a CGI black and white representation of what he believes the murderer looked like at the time.

Edwards, who previously utilized DNA evidence from a shawl belonging to one of the victims to "prove" that Aaron Kosminski, a Jewish immigrant from Poland and a prime suspect during the Whitechapel murders, was indeed Jack the Ripper, has now released a second book.

In this latest work, he claims to have not only definitively identified the Ripper but also uncovered the motives behind the gruesome mutilations and how the killer managed to elude capture. Jack the Ripper is infamous for the brutal slayings of at least five women in the Whitechapel district of East London within a short span from August to November 1888.

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The removal of internal organs from three of his victims fueled speculation that the Ripper possessed anatomical or surgical knowledge, reports the Express . Although police records indicate that 11 women, mostly prostitutes, were slain between April 1888 and February 1891 in the series of crimes known as the Whitechapel murders, it is widely accepted that the third through seventh killings, referred to as the Canonical Murders, were the handiwork of the Ripper.

The victims, Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly, met their tragic ends over a nine-week period from August to November 1888. All victims had their throats slit, post-mortem injuries, including to the vagina, and body parts were removed from Chapman, Eddowes, and Kelly.

PC Watkins was the officer who found the severely mutilated body of the Ripper's fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes, on a pavement in Mitre Square on September 30, 1888. Her head was almost completely severed, and her nose was sliced open. She was his second victim that night.

A silk shawl she owned was drenched in blood. Almost 120 years later, in 2007, Mr Edwards, a businessman from North London, discovered the alleged shawl at an auction in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Intrigued but doubtful, he purchased it and found it remarkably well-preserved, with what seemed to be blood and even semen stains still on the fabric. It was later revealed that acting Police Sergeant Amos Simpson took the shawl as a somewhat grim "gift" for his wife, Jane, as Eddowes' body was transported to the morgue.

Although she never wore it, it stayed in the family for generations and was auctioned off by Sergeant Simpson's great-great-nephew, David Melville-Hayes. Mr Edwards was surprised that such a fancy silk scarf, adorned with flowers, would have belonged to Ms Eddowes, who was destitute and alcoholic.

However, the design and dyes used seemed to be similar to those produced in St Petersburg at the time. This led Mr Edwards to wonder if it could have actually been a possession of Ripper suspect Kosminski, who was from the Russian empire.

He pondered if the killer might have left evidence at the scene, leading to an extensive DNA analysis of the supposed blood and semen stains with assistance from distant kin of both victim and suspect. In a remarkable turn, the blood stains matched a direct descendant of Ms Eddowes, while the semen stains were linked to a relative of Kosminski's sister.

Mr Edwards asserts that this serves as definitive evidence identifying Jack the Ripper, a mystery that has persisted since 1888. Kosminski, born on September 11, 1865, was between 22 and 23 years old during the time of the murders. Raised in Klodawa near Warsaw as the youngest of seven siblings, he lost his father at the tender age of eight.

After his mother remarried, there are indications that he may have suffered sexual abuse by his stepfather. The family relocated to London's East End in 1882, fleeing the rising anti-Semitism in eastern Europe following Tsar Alexander II's demise the previous year.

Throughout the murder investigations, Dr Robert Anderson, who led the London Criminal Investigation Department, considered Kosminski a prime suspect. Confidential police reports later disclosed in the 1894 Macnaghten Memorandum revealed that detectives suspected him due to his "great hatred of women, specially of the prostitute class, and had strong homicidal tendencies".

However, even then, concerns about being labeled anti-Semitic made them hesitant to accuse a Jewish individual. Since no photographs of Kosminski have been found, Edwards contacted his descendants to gather historical family portraits. He then used a sophisticated computer program to create a likeness of Kosminski based on the appearance of his close relatives.

The resulting image depicts a young man with short hair, high cheekbones, and a piercing stare. Further research by Edwards suggests that Kosminski's brother's involvement in Freemasonry may have helped him evade justice. Edwards also believes he has uncovered the motivation behind the mutilations.

In February 2023, Edwards received several photographs, including one of 15 men with handlebar mustaches, dressed in suits with an overgarment. They were identified as members of the Lodge of Israel, a Freemasonry order established for Jewish immigrants in Britain.

One of the men in the photograph was Kosminski's eldest brother, Isaac, a wealthy tailor who had moved to London in 1870 and changed his last name to Abrahams. Notably, an ancient Masonic code tells the story of Hiram Abiff, a "Master Mason" murdered by three assassins known as "The Juwes" for refusing to reveal his secrets.

This fable led to the creation of Masonic blood oaths, which describe mutilations such as cutting throats, removing tongues, and tearing open the left breast to remove the heart and vitals. Mr. Edwards firmly believes that the Ripper was not a random attacker, but was following these Masonic directives.

He also suspects that his brother's Masonic ties likely shielded him from arrest, to prevent backlash against the Jewish community. More disturbingly, another clue was left at the Eddowes murder scene. Nearby, written in chalk, was the cryptic phrase. "The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing."

The word 'Juwes' was spelled in the same Masonic manner. Kosminski was never apprehended and in 1890, after experiencing what is believed to have been a schizophrenic breakdown in which he threatened his sister with a knife, he was committed to Colney Hatch lunatic asylum in North London.

He passed away 28 years later in the Leavesden Asylum, Hertfordshire. Russell Edwards' book, Naming Jack The Ripper: The Definitive Reveal, is now available, published by Rowman and Littlefield.