A self-confessed 'armchair detective' claims to have discovered the identity of Jack the Ripper. Russell Edwards claims Aaron Kosminski, a 23 year-old Polish immigrant who ended up dying in an asylum, was the man behind the grisly killing spree in 1888 in London’s East End. Edwards said a blood-stained shawl he bought in 2007 after an auction in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, held vital DNA evidence which led him to the killer.
See also this article from Jack the Ripper Tour.
However, doubt has been cast on the DNA findings of Russell Edwards and his forensics specialist Dr. Jari Louhelainen. Despite their confidence, many questions remain.
More about this story at the Mail Online.
1 comment(s):
As soon as I read of this I thought "how can they prove the chain of custody". How can they prove beyond any reasonable doubt that there was no risk of contamination of the evidence after it was gathered? How can they prove beyond reasonable doubt that there wasn't some other reason for the DNA to have found it's way onto the clothing before the crime was committed? They can't.
DNA evidence (like fingerprinting before of) is seen by many as a simple binary test. His DNA was found at the scene? He did it. Simple. Crime drama works like that, but real life doesn't. DNA is just one link in an evidential chain. The trouble with a case this old is that the chain is broken in too many placesx. Partly this is because the evidence is so old and partly because it wasn't gathered and managed properly in the first place.
Post a Comment