New evidence to confirm the identity of the infamous Jack the Ripper has been found.

WHO WAS JACK THE RIPPER?

Jack the Ripper was a serial killer in London in 1888, who murdered prostitutes by slitting their throats, and then ripped their abdominal organs out with surgical precision. A diary found and published 25 years ago allegedly written by the murderer had not been confirmed as authentic. A new team of experts, however, have shed new light on the diary and believe they know the identity of Jack the Ripper.

The team, led by filmmaker Bruce Robinson, did some digging into the diary, which was written by a cotton merchant from Liverpool named James Maybrick, who died in 1889. The diary was made public in 1992 by Mike Barrett, who admitted he had made everything up, only to retract that statement three years later.

The new evidence includes timesheets that show that workers were at Maybrick’s house on March 9, 1992, the same day that Barrett told a literary agent about the found diary. Publisher Robert Smith says that Barrett had no literary prowess, and so could not have written the diary himself. “He was not very literate and the idea that he would have been capable of producing such a sophisticated and credible forgery is not remotely plausible,” he said of Barrett.

Robinson and his team believe this new evidence makes James Maybrick the most likely author, and the most likely identity of Jack the Ripper.

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