Sarah Bax Horton

One-Armed Jack

Uncovering the Real Jack the Ripper

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Details

Imprint: O'Mara Books

Publication date: 18/07/2024

ISBN: 9781789296808

Subject: Non-Fiction

Category: Science - History - Philosophy

Binding: Paperback

Size: 198 x 129 mm

Extent: 304 pages

Illustration: 8pp plate section

Territorial Rights: World (All Languages)

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Summary:

This highly revelatory book, based on original research and completely new analysis, presents a compelling new suspect as the most notorious serial killer of all time: Jack the Ripper.

Using a different analytical approach, for the first time, Sarah Bax Horton identifies a named perpetrator as Jack the Ripper by linking eye-witness accounts of the killer’s distinctive physical characteristics to his official medical records. It argues that his broken left arm, which left him unable to work in early 1888, was one of his triggers to kill as part of a serious physical and mental decline caused by severe epilepsy.

This new perpetrator fits the profile as stated by the police of the day: a local man of low class of whom they became aware after the final murder, when they launched an unsuccessful surveillance operation against him. As has never been done before, the author – an experienced former government researcher with specific expertise in research and analysis – formulates a complete analysis of the killer and his methodology, including how he accosted his victims, where he took them to their deaths, his unique modus operandi of a blitz-style attack, and how he escaped from each crime scene without detection.

Each of the six murders – from Martha Tabram to Marie Kelly – is discussed and reconstructed as perpetrated by this man, with his escalating violence clearly demonstrated.

Reviews:

This is a well-researched, well-written, and long-needed book-length examination of a likely suspect. If you have an idea of the sort of man Jack the Ripper might have been, Hyam Hyams could be it.

Paul Begg

A book that has been too long coming...her book is well researched and written. One-Armed Jack should be on the bookshelf of everyone interested in the Whitechapel Murders...Buy it now

Adam Wood, Ripperologist and editor of Crime Through Time

Sales points:

  • It debunks a commonly held misidentification of this perpetrator, who was formerly on the ‘long list’ of Ripper suspects

  • The author establishes a previously unknown connection between the perpetrator and an eyewitness in the Catherine Eddowes case

  • As has never been done before, the perpetrator is specifically linked to the crimes through his distinctive physical characteristics as described by multiple eyewitnesses

  • Draws on previously unpublished material from the London Metropolitan Archive, the Metropolitan Police and Home Office records at the National Archives, Kew, City of London Police records, and other sources originating from civilians and officials who had direct contact with the police investigation

  • The mainstream popularity of true crime is reflected in the success of podcasts such as Serial and Netflix documentaries such as Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. This book comes at a time when the success of the true crime genre is at an all time high.

  • His motivation for murder is studied in detail, and its relationship to the physical and mental illnesses he experienced

  • The author has used her professional skills in calculating the perpetrator’s escape routes from each crime scene and formulating a detailed true crime reconstruction for each of the six murders

About the Author:

Sarah Bax Horton

Sarah Bax Horton is an experienced former civil servant for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. She has an MA Honours degree in English and Foreign Languages (German) from Somerville College, Oxford. Her interest in genealogy and a family member related to the Jack the Ripper case inspired her to research the lives of personalities involved and to establish the previously unknown connection between the perpetrator and an eyewitness in the Catherine Eddowes case.

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