In the 60s of the last century, prim England was shocked by strange crimes - prostitutes were killed one after another in London. Judging by the handwriting, all these crimes were committed by one person. The bodies of all the victims were found naked. Therefore, an unknown maniac, by analogy with the legendary Jack the Ripper, they began to call Jack the stripper.
He killed six, or perhaps eight prostitutes, their naked bodies were found either in the vicinity of the city, or in the waters of the Thames. Why is the exact number of victims of a maniac not established? The thing is that the two murders that are attributed to him do not fully correspond to the criminal’s handwriting. Today we will provide information about the victims of the mysterious Stripper and the main suspects.
Hannah Butterfly
Hannah Taylford was the first victim of a serial killer. At that time she was only 30, she was from a mining family. Her body was found on February 2, 1964, near the Hammersmith Bridge. It immediately became clear to the investigators: the woman was strangled. Several teeth were missing in the mouth, and a closer examination revealed that her underwear was in the oral cavity.
Irene
The next victim of the Strip was the 26-year-old prostitute Irene Lockwood. Her body was discovered on April 8, 1964 on the banks of the Thames, not far from the place where Hannah was previously found. Of course, these two deaths were interconnected, because the murder was an exact copy of the first - broken teeth, strangulation, underwear in the mouth.
Initially, Lockwood was accused of killing a guard, Kenneth Archibald, who worked on tennis courts. The man himself admitted to the killings, but his testimony was rejected by the investigation, because they were contradictory and did not correspond to reality. For example, at the time of the first murder, Kenneth had an alibi, and while he was under investigation, two more girls were killed. In addition, Archibald later admitted: he slandered himself because he was in a state of terrible depression and also drank a lot.
Helen
On April 24 of the same year, the body of 22-year-old Helen Barthelemy was found in Brentford Lane. The death of this girl was a pretty strong impetus to the investigation. The first substantial evidence appeared in the case: spots of paint. The police managed to find out that this type of paint is usually used in the automotive or furniture industry. This suggested that Helen's body lay for some time in the warehouse. It became clear why Jack-stripper takes off clothes from his victims - he simply hides evidence.
Mary
This sex worker is 30 years old. Mary Fleming, a native of Scotland, was discovered dead in mid-July 1964. Her body was found in one of the quiet streets near the Chiswick area. It should be noted that the area was guarded by the police! The investigation again discovered microscopic spots of paint on the victim, some witnesses claimed that a few minutes before Mary was discovered, they heard the sound of a car driving off. However, no one saw the car itself.
Francis
Francis Brown and her friend Kim Taylor went looking for clients in late October 1964. Of course, they heard about the killings in London, but tried not to worry about this, translating stories about terrible crimes as a joke. Each girl found her client, Kim drew attention to the man with whom Francis left, and Francis examined the appearance of the client Kim.
A month later, on November 25, 1964, Francis Brown was discovered dead. The police turned to her friend, the girl helped to make a portrait of the suspect and even described his car. Police made certain conclusions from Kim Taylor’s testimony: for example, it became known that the killer is the most ordinary calm man, most likely of short stature.
Bridget
Bridget O'Hara, who at the time of her death was only 28, was discovered in mid-February 1965 in an industrial area. Her body was found about a kilometer from the place where the corpse of Mary Fleming was previously discovered.
Crime Media
Of course, the press simply could not help but pay attention to terrible crimes. Journalists immediately dubbed the criminal Jack-stripper. The thing is that there is a play on words. Translated into English, “stripper” sounds like a stripper, which is only two letters different from the word “ripper” - ripper. Jack the Ripper at the end of the 19th century kept all London prostitutes in fear, presumably on his account 15 lives. Of course, the Stripper had a lot to learn from his mysterious fellow.
Investigation
Of course, the police began to study the archives. Here an unexpected find attracted attention: in the year preceding 1964, two more unsolved crimes were discovered, quite similar in handwriting to those committed by Jack undresser. So, 8 corpses and absolutely no hints of who was involved in all these terrible crimes ...
Headed the investigation, John Doo Rose. The detective, whom his colleagues called only Johnny Four-Days (for the incredible speed with which he could solve the most complicated crimes), immediately drew attention to features that had previously gone unnoticed. For example, it was John who noticed that Bridget's body was partially mummified. So, for some time the corpse was stored in a place where it was dry and air circulated.
Six hundred people were involved in the work. They literally scoured the whole city in search of a place where there was a paint similar to that found on the bodies of the priestesses of love. He also proposed to draw a line on the city map, according to this line in London cordons were built that fixed the numbers of all cars. Those drivers who crossed the line twice a night instantly got interrogated by the police. Soon they managed to find a transformer substation, and not far from it was a car repair shop where cars were painted. Here the police found a cache of a serial killer.
As soon as possible, John Do Rose interviewed about seven thousand men whom he suspected of murders. And after that he held a press conference for journalists. He said: the circle of suspects narrowed to two dozen people. After some time, Rose again met with representatives of the media and said that there were only 10 men among the suspects. Then another press conference was held, at which the chief superintendent said that only three people were among the suspects. Note that the serial killer Jack-stripper stopped his crimes immediately after the first conference. The case was never closed. The identity of the killer has not been established.
Suspects
The first suspect was Kenneth Archibald. His business card was found in the apartment of one of the victims - Irene Lockwood. Archibald was 57 years old; he was a retired military man, a watchman. An examination showed that he had serious health problems - physical and mental.
It was said that the Jack-stripper is none other than Mungo Airland, also a security guard who at that time was 40 years old. However, Mungo was in Ireland at the time of O'Hara's death, and therefore could not have been a Stripper. Despite the fact that, most likely, Airland was not involved in the murder of London prostitutes, he could not live with a load of charges. A man was poisoned in his garage with carbon monoxide.
Where there is no clarity, various conjectures appear. Of course, journalists and writers could not help tackling such a strange thing. Even today, they continue to try to figure out the name of the mysterious killer. For example, reporter Michael Lichfield claims that Stripper is a famous British actor and boxer Freddie Mills. He was on the list of suspects, but in July 1965 he was found shot dead in his own car, because the investigation could not fully work out this version.
For a long time, Mills was beyond suspicion. However, later the police drew attention to the fact that the celebrity lives a double life. Cadillac boxers were often seen in the evil places of London, and moths told police that Freddie loves BDSM-style entertainment, he practices them in the elite apartments of an old friend. Michael Lichfield in his investigation says that Freddie Mills himself told his secret to the detectives. It should be noted that Johnny Four-Day was a good acquaintance of Mills on the Masonic lodge. This is what allowed the detective to bring the boxer to a frank conversation. Subsequently, the detective offered the boxer a deal: he should appear at the police station with a confession. For this, John will help him soften the charge. However, the boxer did not turn to the police, but to the Cray brothers, very famous persons in the criminal world. He asked them to find a killer for himself.
In order for his death to look like a real suicide, he borrowed an automatic rifle from his friend. At the end of July 1965, Mils was found dead. He paid the killers to take his life because he did not have the courage to do it on his own.
It should be noted that the absence of any evidence constantly confused the investigators, and new versions of the identity of Jack undresser appeared. Perhaps the prostitutes were killed by someone who took part in the filming of porn films with them. It is possible that it was some policeman whose investigators did not voice the name from the shop solidarity.