8. The Partner: Joseph Barnett
The partner of Mary Kelly, Barnett had loved Kelly (or thought he had) and had tried to get her to quit her life of prostitution and heavy alcoholism. However, when his employment and financial status did not improve, Kelly thought it necessary to once again sell her body. The relationship between the two was seen to be strained, with Kelly drinking more and more, and indulging in acts of physical violence when drunk- according to records of the inquest. Barnett therefore attempted to 'scare' Kelly off the streets by enacting the Ripper murders, killing four of her known associates. When these methods did not sway her, and when she in fact left Barnett's company, Barnett then proceeded to murdering her, explaining why her murder was the last and the most bloody. Like the Masonic Conspiracy theory, this hinges on the idea that the five victims knew each other- which has never been proven. Secondly there has been no proof that Barnett- while looking like some of the sketches done of the Ripper- had any sort of knowledge of Kelly's life as a streetwalker in any intimate detail.