When it comes to these theories, they tend to fall into two brackets: one, the crackpot who has spent way too long down the rabbit hole and actually believes what they're saying; two, the hack who wants in on that sweet Jack The Ripper racket. Books speculating as to Jack's identity have sold pretty well since time immemorial (or, like, since he started killing people), and the best way to make yours stand out from the rest is by pushing some unique, new, preferably insane theory. The latter of which is the case with the Hartlepool resident who claimed to be a distant relative. Said relative also claims that Jack was actually a milkman as his day job, allowing him to keep odd hours without arousing suspicion. He also claims that the Ripper fled London following the furore of him, y'know, ripping out people's internal organs for a laugh, and settled in Hartlepool with his wife and daughter and changing his surname to Williams. Forensic expert and ex-copper Norman Kirtlan said this suspect was his "favourite" to date. But then he would, since he co-wrote the book about it. And we're not buying it. The book nor the theory, we mean. If he was gonna beat the rap so successfully, he'd have to be driving fastest milk cart in the west or something. Our new theory: Benny Hill was Jack The Ripper?
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
