Use Sources F and G, and your own knowledge, to explain how the police tried to catch Jack the Ripper. Source G helps explain exactly why no reward was offered for information on jack the ripper

Part 4- Jack the ripper

Use Sources F and G, and your own knowledge, to explain how the police tried to catch Jack the Ripper.

Source G helps explain exactly why no reward was offered for information on jack the ripper. The source claims that giving out rewards cause more harm than good so rewards were discontinued, that would probably be true as people in whitechapel were very poor and desperate for money so their evidence could not be trusted and this would just confuse the police and not help at all. Also you could argue that if they were real witnesses they would have come forward before a reward was offered, although people in whitechapel were not good people and wouldn’t have bothered to give any evidence unless there was something in it for them. Even if the police did offer a reward real witnesses might still be hesitant to come forward as people would be scared to admit they were a witness to a murder because the murderer might come after them next and people didn’t trust the police either because they were in a position of power.

The fact that the mile end vigilance received this letter shows that the police must have written to the home secretary requesting that they could give out a reward and as the letter was received on the 17th of September the police must have asked if they could give out reward after the first or second murder which shows that they probably genuinely cared about catching Jack the ripper as they didn’t tell the newspapers about them trying to give out a reward.

Source F is a notice from the police requesting that witnesses come forward.

It was ...

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Source F is a notice from the police requesting that witnesses come forward.

It was published after the double murders of Elisabeth stride and Catherine Eddowes. At the time four murderers had already been committed, and some witnesses with a description of jack the ripper had come forward but the notice didn’t mention this, even though it could have helped people to identify him instead of just saying ‘should you know of any person whom suspicion is attached’ which doesn’t help people to distinguish anyone as jack the ripper as jack the ripper would not walk around in the day ‘looking suspicious’. This makes it seem that the police were not making any effort to see that he is caught and merely published this note to make it appear that they were doing something because newspapers were pressuring them. On the other hand the description of jack the ripper was not very clear and if Jack the ripper saw what the police knew he could make sure he looked different in future.

. Many people came forward with information of people acting suspiciously, but none the person that the police were looking for. This was one place where police time was wasted, investigating so many people who ended up not being the Ripper. Also more police time was wasted within the press. Printing false stories, which police followed up, and nothing came from it. Police patrols were increased a number of times in the area in order to catch him in the act. Some police officers dressed up as prostitutes, in an effort to trap and capture the killer.

The police arrested Some people but they were found to be innocent. Police did find a man "Leather Apron" and police wasted a lot of time investigating him because the police pressuered them and He had been arrested for stabbings before. But Leather apron came up with alibi's, so had to let him go.