Ripperologists in a spin

A new book by Trevor Marriot proposes that Britain's most famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, was a merchant sailor.

A mental patient, a butcher, the artist Walter Sickert, a serial wife poisoner and even Queen Victoria's grandson have all been touted as Jack the Ripper suspects in one of the greatest whodunits in history.

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But what if he was not even a Londoner or a British? What if he was a merchant seaman, who pursued his blood lust as far a field as Nicaragua and Germany?

Ripperologists, self-appointed sleuths on the Ripper's trail numbering in thousands, are in a spin over a new book proposing that Britain's most famous serial killer was a merchant sailor who murdered when his ship was docked.

In London's grimy East End the Ripper slew five prostitutes over 10 weeks in 1888, leaving their throats slashed from ear to ear and lacerations up and down the bodies of all but one of the victims. Some of their organs were also removed.

Trevor Marriott, a former detective and author of the controversial new book Jack the Ripper: The 21st Century Investigation, says police on the case wrongly assumed that the killer lived and worked in London's East End and failed to see a pattern between the dates of the crimes.

Meanwhile, another book, Uncle Jack, written by Tony Williams has Williams proposing that the Ripper was his ancestor John Williams, a gynaecologist to Queen Victoria's children.

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Key Facts about Jack the Ripper

• Year of incident: 1888

• Place: Whitechapel, London

• Victims:All were prostitutes

• Victim 1: Polly Nichols, aged 43

• Date of first murder: Friday, August 31

• First title: Leather Apron

• First suspect: Poet Francis Thompson