JACK the Ripper who stalked London more than 130 years ago was a demon barber with a taste for human flesh, according to startling new scientific evidence.
A blood-covered shawl found at one of the murder scenes is believed to contain DNA from both butchered victim Catherine Eddowes and the world's most infamous serial killer.
Researchers at Liverpool John Moores University conducted genetic tests on the sample long-thought to have belonged to the Ripper himself, who they now believe to be Pole Aaron Kosminski.
“We describe for the first time systematic, molecular level analysis of the only surviving physical evidence linked to the Jack the Ripper murders,” the authors wrote in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.
“Finding both matching profiles in the same piece of evidence enhances the statistical probability of its overall identification and reinforces the claim that the shawl is authentic.”
The bloody shawl is linked to the double murder of victims three and four, Elizabeth Stride and Eddowes, on the night of Sept. 30, 1888 in Whitechapel.
Stride’s throat had been cut, but the rest of her body was mostly intact - unlike most of the infamous killer's victims.
It's long been thought that the Ripper - said to have killed anywhere between five and 18 women - had been interrupted in his work and was still on the hunt for more unfortunate victims.
An hour later he butchered Eddowes tearing her apart and taking her kidney as a trophy - before sending the sickening 'From Hell' letter in which he claimed he had eaten it.
Five women — Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly — are widely held to have been victims of the Ripper, although later murders were attributed to him.
All were murdered in the most brutal fashion imaginable around the Whitechapel area. Their bodies were utterly mutilated, many of them being disembowelled.
Chapman's uterus was taken, Eddowes had her uterus and a kidney removed and her face mutilated, and Kelly's body was completely destroyed and her face hacked away.
Such was the fear at the time that the streets of London emptied after nightfall, leaving the once bustling Victorian capital deathly silent while the Ripper roamed the streets.
Now in an astonishing new article in the Journal of Forensic Sciences, fresh genetic evidence now points to 23-year-old Kosminski.
This isn’t the first time Kosminski has been linked to the crimes. But it is the first time the supporting DNA evidence has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
This was "confirmed" after comparing fragments of mitochondrial DNA taken from the shawl with those taken from Kosminski's known living descendants.
Investigators identified Kosminski as their prime suspect in the killings in 1888. However, they did not have enough proof to solve the case.
The DNA testing suggests that the Ripper had brown eyes and brown hair. This matches evidence from eyewitness reports.
The researchers say their new study provides "the most systematic and most advanced genetic analysis to date regarding the Jack the Ripper murders."
And it's not the first time DNA evidence has pointed to Kosminski as the killer.
Jari Louhelainen, a biochemist at LJMU and one of the coauthors of the current study, first conducted testing on the suspect's DNA years earlier.
He obtained the samples after receiving the stained shawl from an author named Russell Edwards, who bought it in 2007.
In 2014, Louhelainen published a book titled Naming Jack the Ripper, where he discussed the findings of his study.
However, he was criticised by geneticists for not releasing enough technical details about his analysis.
MARY ANN NICHOLS, 43, killed August 31, 1888: Locksmith’s daughter and mum-of-five had turned to prostitution after splitting from husband. Throat slit and abdomen slashed.
ANNIE CHAPMAN, 47, killed September 8, 1888: Widowed mum-of-three was found on the street at 5.30am with her intestines ripped out and placed on one of her shoulders. Her uterus was missing.
ELIZABETH STRIDE, 44, killed September 30, 1888: Swedish-born farmer’s daughter who had been a prostitute on and off for more than 20 years. Throat was cut but unlike other victims there was no other mutilation.
CATHERINE EDDOWES, 46, killed September 30, 1888: Wolverhampton-born mum of three whose body was found 45 minutes after Stride’s. Most of her uterus had been removed, along with a kidney.
MARY JANE KELLY, 25, killed November 9, 1888: Only victim killed indoors, she was found in her flat with entire abdomen carved out and the organs placed under her head and on the bedside table.
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