The Escape of Jack the Ripper: The Truth About the Cover-up and His Flight from Justice

Hainsworth (Jack the Ripper—Case Solved, 1891) and Ward-Agius overpromise and underdeliver in yet another volume announcing “the truth” about Jack the Ripper, who they argue was London solicitor Montague John Druitt. In 1965’s When London Walked in Terror, Tom Cullen identified Druitt as a suspect, based on notes from Sir Melville Macnaghten, an assistant chief constable of the CID, who was not on the force at the time of the murders. Macnaghten had listed three people he deemed possible Rippers, including Druitt, who was believed to have taken his own life in December 1888. The authors, who simply assume Druitt’s guilt, theorize that Druitt’s family knew he was the Ripper and had him confined to an asylum in France to spare the family name before assenting to his release and return to England. The paucity of their evidence, which amounts to little more than Macnaghten’s inaccurate notes and Druitt’s apparent suicide following the last murder considered an actual Ripper killing, is demonstrated by their noting as significant a photo of Druitt in front of “a chalk scrawl on the wall,” because the Ripper may have left a message in chalk on a wall. This adds nothing new to a case that continues to tantalize armchair sleuths. Agent: Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lownie Literary (U.K.). (July)