Jack the Ripper has probably been pushing up daisies for around 100 years now, but it’s one of those unsolved mysteries that just won’t die.

Theories abound as to who the gruesome murderer might have been, and now it appears that his true identity may finally be solved.

That’s thanks to a Victorian-era diary that has just had its authenticity verified, as the Telegraph reports:

Twenty five years ago ‘Ripperologists’ around the world were stunned by the discovery of a previously unknown memoir, claiming to have been written by Liverpool cotton merchant, James Maybrick.

In the 9,000 word volume, Maybrick confessed to the brutal murders of five women in the East End of London, as well as one prostitute in Manchester.

He signed off the diary: “I give my name that all know of me, so history do tell, what love can do to a gentleman born. Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper.”

The diary first came to public attention via a former Liverpool scrap metal dealer named Mike Barrett, who claimed he had obtained it through a family friend, Tony Devereux.

Tony died shortly afterwards, though, which led many to dismiss the diary. Researchers now say they have proof that it is no fraud:

According to a new book on the saga, the contentious memoir was actually discovered in Maybrick’s former Liverpool home – putting him firmly back in the frame as history’s most notorious serial killer.

Robert Smith, who published the original diary in 1993, and has written the new book, believes Mr Barrett and those who supplied him with the document, kept this crucial fact secret because they were frightened of being prosecuted.

Mr Smith said: “When the diary first emerged, Mike Barrett refused to give any satisfactory explanation for where it had come from, but after painstaking research, chiefly by Bruce Robinson, we can now show a trail that leads us directly to Maybrick’s home.”

Thanks to timesheets from a local firm of electrical contractors, it has been proven that the company in question was working on Maybrick’s home on the same day that Barrett contacted London literary agents claiming to have Jack the Ripper’s diary.

Smith, the man who published the diary in 1993 and then came under fire from those doubting the authenticity, is pretty stoked:

He explained: “I have never been in any doubt that the diary is a genuine document written in 1888 and 1889.

“The new and indisputable evidence, that on 9th March 1992, the diary was removed from under the floorboards of the room that had been James Maybrick’s bedroom in 1889, and offered later on the very same day to a London literary agent, overrides any other considerations regarding its authenticity.

“It follows that James Maybrick [above] is its most likely author.  Was he Jack the Ripper?  He now has to be a prime suspect, but the disputes over the Ripper’s identity may well rage for another century at least.”

I guess we will never know, but good luck to those who continue to search for clues.

[source:telegraph]