CSI: Whitechapel

A sleuth is hoping to crack the Ripper mystery later this month.

Retired murder squad detective Trevor Marriott will reveal the results of his long cold case re-investigation into the brutal slayings on Thursday, February 27 at The Darwen Library Theatre.

More than 100 books have been published and numerous films and documentaries made on The Whitechapel Murders of 1888.

But Mr Marriot says: “Many over-dramatised and distorted facts to the point the public now accepts fiction more readily than the facts.

“It was generally accepted he killed five prostitutes between August and November 1888.

“However, I have uncovered other murders outside those dates, in London, the USA and Germany.

“This led to a new suspect emerging who had never been mentioned before who had been arrested for committing a Ripper-like murder in the USA.”

His investigation disproves the accepted theory that the killer, after killing some of the victims, removed vital organs from their bodies at the crime scenes taking them away with him.

Further investigative work would uncover secret Metropolitan Police Special Branch records never before made public in which four new suspects are named and the contents of which now eliminate a number of “prime suspects” who have been continuously investigated over the ensuing years.

Trevor Marriott now believes The Whitechapel murders were not all committed by the same man – and in fact Jack the Ripper might have been no more than a “myth created by sensational journalism at the time”.

The one-man show is packed with photographs from 1888 including some from the crime scenes, of the suspects and many more related to the murders.

The show was originally scheduled for November last year but due to a car breakdown on the night it was unable to go ahead.

Jack the Ripper – A 21st Century Investigation is at The Darwen Library Theatre on Thursday, February 27.