Jack the Ripper was Jewish, new book claims

A new book has identified Jack the Ripper through DNA analysis as a 23-year-old Jewish refugee from Whitechapel.

Barnet-based author Russell Edwards argues that DNA evidence – taken from a victim’s shawl bought at auction in 2007 – finally shows “beyond doubt” who the Ripper was.

Enlisting the help of molecular biologists, Edwards says he has “proved” that the murderer was Aaron Kosminski, a Polish Jew who was for years considered one of six key suspects.

Kosminski was born in the Polish town of Klodawa and emigrated to the UK in 1881, where he lived with his family in Whitechapel and worked as a barber, until he was placed in a lunatic asylum, where he died aged 53 in 1919.

However, the claims have been greeted with some scepticism by historians, including David Jacobs, chairman of the Jewish Historical Society of England, saying the research needed to be peer-reviewed.