How Jack the Ripper slashed throats, ripped out entrails and wielded a knife with surgical precision… as descendants of his victims back inquest after DNA breakthrough

It was a mystery that endured for more than 130 years, until recently.

Researcher Mark Edwards believes he has definitively identified Polish immigrant Aaron Kosminski as being Jack the Ripper.

This week, descendants of the Ripper’s victims backed Mr Edwards’ legal bid to have a new inquest into the death of Catherine Eddowes, the Ripper’s fourth victim.

Eddowes was horrifically mutilated by the killer, with her entrails having been ripped out and left dangling around her neck.

But she was not the only defiled victim of the most notorious serial killer in history.

Below, we reveal the gruesome details of every one of the Ripper’s five ‘canonical’ victims.

Researcher Mark Edwards believes he has definitively identified Polish immigrant Aaron Kosminski as being Jack the Ripper 

Mary Ann Nichols 

The first murder definitively attributed to the Ripper was that of Mary Ann ‘Polly’ Nichols.

Her mutilated body was discovered at 3.40am on August 31, 1888 on Buck’s Row in Whitechapel.

The 43-year-old prostitute, who had five children with her estranged husband William, was discovered with her throat savagely cut by two deep swipes.

One knife blow had reached as far as her vertebrae.

Nichols had also been stabbed in the genitals and her abdomen had been ripped open, leaving her bowels protruding. 

The body of the destitute sex worker and mother was first spotted by Charles Cross, a carman. Another man, carter Robert Paul, joined him moments later.

After feeling her hands and face, Paul believed that Nichols was still breathing. 

Then, instead of going to look for the policeman who was known to be on duty in the area, the pair carried on their way to work. 

Mary Ann 'Polly' Nichols was discovered at 3.40am on August 31, 1888

Mary Ann ‘Polly’ Nichols was discovered at 3.40am on August 31, 1888

A depiction of the discovery of Nichols' remains by police officer Jonas Mizen

A depiction of the discovery of Nichols’ remains by police officer Jonas Mizen

They eventually came across another officer, who they told of what they had found.

By then, another policeman, PC John Neil, had found Nichols’ body. 

At her inquest, which was reported in the papers, it was noted that Nichols was also found with five teeth missing, a laceration to her tongue and bruise running along her jaw and face. 

Nichols’ murder led the police to make extensive enquiries among local prostitutes. 

They gave details of a man who had been aggressively trying to get money out of them. 

Bucks Row, now Durward Street, East London, where the body of Mary Ann Nichols was found lying across the gutter

Bucks Row, now Durward Street, East London, where the body of Mary Ann Nichols was found lying across the gutter

The edition of the Illustrated Police News on September 8, 1888, depicting the inquest into Nichols' murder

The edition of the Illustrated Police News on September 8, 1888, depicting the inquest into Nichols’ murder

Annie Chapman 

Just a week after Nichols was murdered, the Ripper turned his attentions to 47-year-old Annie Chapman. 

Chapman was a widowed mother-of-three who had turned to occasional prostitution to survive. 

Her body was found in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street, in Spitalfields, just before 6am on September 8.

Chapman was discovered lying on her back, with her dress pulled up to her knees. 

Her intestines had been lain across her left shoulder and her uterus and parts of her bladder removed.

The doctor who examined her body said her killer appeared to have shown ‘anatomical knowledge’ in the way they cut away parts of her. 

His post-mortem also reported ‘disease of the lungs’ and said Chapman’s remains showed ‘great signs of deprivation’ and that she appeared to have been ‘badly fed’.

Just a week after Nichols was murdered, the Ripper turned his attentions to 47-year-old Annie Chapman. Chapman was a widowed mother-of-three who had turned to occasional prostitution to survive. Above: A post-mortem photo of Chapman

Chapman in 1869

Just a week after Nichols was murdered, the Ripper turned his attentions to 47-year-old Annie Chapman. Chapman was a widowed mother-of-three who had turned to occasional prostitution to survive. Above: A post-mortem photo of Chapman (left), pictured right in 1869

Elizabeth Stride 

The Ripper’s next two victims were found within an hour of each other in the early hours of September 30.

The first of those was Elizabeth Stride, the only one of the Ripper’s victims not to be mutilated.

That fact has led many to suggest that Stride was in fact murdered by her boyfriend rather than the Ripper.

But Stride is accepted as one of the serial killer’s five ‘canonical’ victims – those . It is argued that the Ripper was disturbed before he could defile Stride’s body. 

The Ripper's next two victims were found within an hour of each other in the early hours of September 30. The first of those was Elizabeth Stride, the only one of the Ripper's victims not to be mutilated

The Ripper’s next two victims were found within an hour of each other in the early hours of September 30. The first of those was Elizabeth Stride, the only one of the Ripper’s victims not to be mutilated

The cover of the September 21, 1889 edition of Puck magazine depicting the mysterious Jack the Ripper

The cover of the September 21, 1889 edition of Puck magazine depicting the mysterious Jack the Ripper

The 45-year-old, originally from Gothenburg, Sweden, was discovered in Dutfield’s Yard in Whitechapel.

The Ripper had killed her with a single incision to her neck that severed her left carotid artery and trachea.  

Dr George Bagster Phillips, the same physician who had examined the remains of Chapman and Kelly, carried out Stride’s post-mortem and was present at the scene. 

Stride’s murder prompted a mob to protest at the ongoing murders and the police’s inability to catch him. 

The Ripper became public enemy number one.  

Catherine Eddowes 

The body of Catherine Eddowes was discovered at 1.44am on the corner of Mitre Square in London’s East End on September 30, less than an hour after Stride’s.

PC Edward Watkins, who came across Eddowes’ body, told reporters of ‘a more dreadful sight I never saw’.

Eddowes, a 46-year-old mother-of-three, had been arrested that night for being drunk and disorderly. 

She was released from prison less than an hour before she was murdered. 

PC Watkins described how it was ‘difficult to discern the injuries to the face for the quantity of blood which covered it’. 

The body of Catherine Eddowes was discovered at 1.44am on the corner of Mitre Square in London's East End on September 30, less than an hour after Stride's. Her entrails had been ripped out and left dangling around her neck, and her head was nearly severed from her body

The body of Catherine Eddowes was discovered at 1.44am on the corner of Mitre Square in London’s East End on September 30, less than an hour after Stride’s. Her entrails had been ripped out and left dangling around her neck, and her head was nearly severed from her body

Eddowes’ top had been pulled up over her chest to expose a cut from the top of her groin to her chest.

Her entrails had been ripped out and left dangling around her neck, and her head was nearly severed from her body.

It was Eddowes’ murder that would lead historian Russell Edwards to claim he had finally definitively identified who the Ripper was.

At an auction in 2007, he came across a shawl that was said to have been found on Eddowes on the night of her murder.

It was stained with blood and semen. Further enquiries by Mr Edwards revealed how the shawl was plucked from Eddowes’ corpse by Acting Police Sergeant Amos Simpson as it was being carted to the morgue. 

The shawl remained in the policeman’s family and then was sold at the auction by his great-great-nephew.

DNA tests performed at Mr Edwards’ request matched the DNA in the blood stains with a descendant of Eddowes – proving the shawl was genuine.

Tests on the semen proved it was that of long-time Ripper suspect Aaron Kosminski, a Jewish immigrant from Poland. 

The researchers matched it with DNA from one of his sister’s descendants. 

Mr Edwards laid out his findings in his book Naming Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Reveal.

Contemporaneous police drawing of the body of Catherine Eddowes

Contemporaneous police drawing of the body of Catherine Eddowes

Police discovering the body of one of Jack the Ripper's victims, probably Catherine Eddowes

Police discovering the body of one of Jack the Ripper’s victims, probably Catherine Eddowes

Another edition of the Illustrated Police News after 'two more Whitechapel horrors'

Another edition of the Illustrated Police News after ‘two more Whitechapel horrors’

Mary Jane Kelly 

The most terrible of the Ripper murders was the last. 

Mary Jane Kelly had been horrifically mutilated, with her body parts – including her sexual organs – distributed around her room.

Dennis Halsted, a doctor at the London Hospital, carried out an examination of her remains and reported that she had been cut apart with ‘great surgical skill’.

The 25-year-old prostitute was discovered in the room she rented at 13 Miller’s Court in Spitalfields on November 9, 1888.

The most terrible of the Ripper murders was the last. Mary Jane Kelly had been horrifically mutilated, with her body parts - including her sexual organs - distributed around her room

The most terrible of the Ripper murders was the last. Mary Jane Kelly had been horrifically mutilated, with her body parts – including her sexual organs – distributed around her room

The 25-year-old prostitute was discovered in the room she rented at 13 Miller's Court in Spitalfields on November 9, 1888

The 25-year-old prostitute was discovered in the room she rented at 13 Miller’s Court in Spitalfields on November 9, 1888 

The fact her killing took place away from prying eyes allowed the Ripper to do exactly as he wished with her body. 

The police who encountered her remains were left with nightmares that haunted them for the rest of their lives.

At Kelly’s inquest, the full horror of how Kelly was mutilated was described by Dr Thomas Bond.

He told how her face had been hacked beyond recognition, her breasts removed and her liver deposited between her feet. 

Kelly’s heart had also been removed. 

There was widespread press coverage of her funeral, but no family members attended. 

It was a tragic farewell for the last definitive victim of the Ripper.  

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