When Polly Nichols was murdered in 1888 it was at first treated as any other murder. The police didn’t realise the full seriousness of the murder and they didn’t realise that there were going to be additional murders committed by the same killer.
The police first thought that the murderer would be local as the murders of Emma Smith and Martha Tabram both took place in the Whitechapel area. But later it was thought that as the murders all took place at weekends that the killer probably didn’t live in Whitechapel, but lived and worked away from the area, and travelled there for the purpose of committing the murders.
There was a lot of pressure on the police at the time of the murders, which made them grab at any slight bit of evidence that they could find. This happened when the police arrested John Pizer, also known as leather apron. He was a Jewish shoemaker whom the press had suggested. The police checked to see if he had any previous convictions. He had previously stabbed prostitutes, and because of this connection the police arrested him, but then a few days later had to release him because his alibi was too strong. He had been at a lodging at the time of one murder and the landlord could back him up. At another time he had been in hiding at a relatives house, which could also be backed up. This wasted a lot of police time and possibly put everyone’s minds at rest, only to be shocked again by finding out that they hadn’t caught the killer.
The police were unable and unwilling to give out a good description of the killer and this must have hindered the murder case as someone could have possibly seen the killer at around the time of the murders. Also, the home secretary was unwilling to give out a reward for the capture of the killer. If there had been a reward for the capture then people might have been a lot keener to find the murderer. But the fact that no reward was given could have been because the victims were all prostitutes and seen as invaluable to society. And possibly this is why the killer preyed on these woman because they were unimportant to society.
On the last murder there was a dispute in the evidence. The killer skinned the victim, Mary Kelly, alive and she was dissected in a horrifying way. A breast was removed and put under her head. These were just a few of the many horrific things that happened to the body. The coroner Dr Bond disagreed with the previous coroners and said that the killer had no medical knowledge what so ever. But the police still went ahead with the evidence that they currently had and were still looking for someone who had medical knowledge.
The Killer was obviously clever and cunning, and he worked quickly. It was said that his murders probably only took around 5 minutes and then he would disappear. He seemed to know what he was doing and appeared to play games with the police by sending them letters and making what he was doing look easy, although these may have been hoaxes. Also the murderer appeared to be a random killer. There did not seem to be any stalking involved and nothing was stolen from the victims. This type of murderer is hard enough to catch today with all the forensics and advanced detective methods that we have. Then they had nothing similar, so it was going to be extremely difficult for the police in 1888. The police also used to clean the murder scene and all of the evidence with it, so if there had been any traces left by the killer, they would have been removed.
