The ‘wandering lunatic who was Jack the Ripper’: Alcoholic cripple and frequent resident of mental institutions was West London’s notorious serial killer, claims researcher
- Sarah Bax Horton claims to have unmasked the infamous 1888 killer
Jack the Ripper was an alcoholic cripple who, according to an investigator, regularly stayed in mental institutions.
Former police volunteer Sarah Bax Horton claims to have discovered the identity of the infamous killer who murdered at least five women in Whitechapel in London’s East End in 1888.
She said the Sunday Telegraph she believes Jack the Ripper’s real name was Hyam Hyams, an alcoholic who lived in an area where the murders took place and was apprehended by police as “a wandering lunatic” following his alleged killing spree.
Mrs. Bax Horton, whose great-great-grandfather was a police officer at the center of the investigation, discovered witness descriptions of the man believed to be Jack the Ripper and matched them to Hyam’s physical characteristics.
They described a man in his mid-thirties with a stiff arm and an irregular gait with bent knees. According to his medical records, Hyams, who was 35 in 1888, was unable to “bend or straighten” his arm after an injury, nor was he able to straighten his knees.
An expert believes that Jack the Ripper was Hyam Hyams, an alcoholic who was in and out of mental institutions
A front page of an 1888 report on the murders
Sarah Bax Horton used witness statements and medical records from 1888
Ms Bax Horton told the Sunday Telegraph: ‘The files stated what the eyewitnesses said – that he had a peculiar gait. He was weak in the knees and did not fully extend his legs.
“When he walked, he kind of had a shuffling gait, probably a side effect of brain damage from his epilepsy.”
“He was particularly violent after his severe epileptic seizures, which explains the frequency of the murders.”
Hyams’ medical notes are from various infirmaries and institutions, highlighting his physical and mental decline that coincided with the time of the Ripper’s murder spree between August 31 and November 9, 1888.
Mrs Bax Horton said Hyams broke his left arm in February 1888 and was imprisoned in September 1889 at the Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum, North London.
She added that towards the end of 1888, Hyams was apprehended by the police as “a wandering lunatic,” explaining why the killings suddenly stopped.
This isn’t the first time someone has come forward claiming to know Jack the Ripper’s identity and countless individuals have been accused over the years.