Following the news that Jack the Ripper has been officially identified as Polish barber Aaron Kosminski, descendants of his victims are calling for a new legal inquest.
Kosminski was officially identified by a shawl bought at auction in 2007 by Jack the Ripper author and researcher Russell Edwards. It contained DNA from both Kosminski and Catherine Eddowes.
Eddowes is one of Jack the Ripper’s five confirmed victims, though historians believe there may have been many more. Kosminski was 23 at the time of the attacks, having immigrated to east London from Poland.
Karen Miller, the three-times great-granddaughter of Eddowes, provided her DNA to make the match identifying Kosminki as the notorious killer.
Now, she, Edwards, and other descendants of both Kosminski and his victims are calling for a new legal inquest to be opened in the case.
“It has all been about him, this iconic name, but people have forgotten about the victims who did not have justice at the time,” Miller told The Daily Mail. “What about the real name of the person who did this? Having the real person legally named in a court which can consider all the evidence would be a form of justice for the victims.”
“We have got the proof, now we need this inquest to legally name the killer,” she added. “It would mean a lot to me, to my family, to a lot of people to finally have this crime solved.”
jack the ripper Was just identified as polish barber aaron kosminski
Jack the Ripper’s other confirmed victims were Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, and Mary Jane Kelly.
The original 1888 inquest into Jack the Ripper’s brutal rapes and murders ended with a verdict of “willful murder.” However, police had not yet identified the killer to convict him.
Two years ago, Sir Michael Ellis, the then-Attorney General, refused permission for a new inquest. He said at the time that there was not sufficient new evidence.
More recently, barristers have appealed to the new Attorney General, Richard Hermer.
“A second inquest is the only way of confirming what happened,” Edwards said. “As we now have identified the true murderer with a wealth of evidence putting the man we named as the Ripper in the frame, we want justice to be served.”
East London coroner Nadia Persaud has shared her support for a new inquest with Edwards and his lawyer.
“I would not oppose your application,” she noted. “It appears to me that a fresh inquest would be unlikely to reach any different outcome, the only new factor being the suggestion that the perpetrator might now be identified.”
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