The Trial of James Maybrick - May 2007

Here's the latest on the Maybrick event upcoming in May as posted by organizer Chris Jones on Casebook: Jack the Ripper:

Maybrick Trial Programme is Finalised

The programme for the Trial of James Maybrick at Liverpool Cricket club in May 2007 has been finalised. James was a former member of the Cricket Club in the 1880s. The event is fully supported by the Liverpool European Capital of Culture 08 Company and it could prove to be one of their biggest events in 2007. Tickets for the event have been sold worldwide.

The final programme is very similar to the one printed at the start of this thread. The main change is that Mike Barrett has been provided with an opportunity to speak before Shirley Harrison. He is of course is the man who discovered the Diary and brought it to the attention of the world. He is a very controversial figure who has changed his story about events surrounding the diary on more than one occasion. However, he has promised to tell the full and completely truthful story of how he came into possession of the diary and how valid he feels the document to be.

Giving evidence at the event will be some of the top Maybrick experts and Ripperologists. They include Shirley Harrison, author of the controversial book, The Diary of Jack the Ripper, and Professor David Canter, the highly respected Head of the Department of Investigative Psychology at Liverpool University. Paul Begg and Donald Rumbelow will be leading the attack on the Diary as a historical document and James being a realistic suspect for the Ripper murders. There will be opportunites for people from the audience to question all the speakers. We want a full and honest debate. All who attend the event will form the jury.

Attending the Trial will also be many of the descendents of the people who were actually involved in events surrounding the Maybricks in the 1880s, including some of James Maybrick’s descendents. We also have direct descendents of Alfred Brierley (Florence's lover), Nurse Yapp and Florence's lawyers. We are hoping that the details of Florence's Will (which has never been published) will be made available for people attending the Trial. I'm told there could be some shocks in store when it sees the light of day!!!

Interest in the Trial is especially great in the United States as Florence Maybrick, James’ wife, was an American citizen and she remains today the only American woman ever to be charged with murder in this country. William Friedkin, the famous Hollywood Director of films such as The Exorcist and the French Connection, is to visit Liverpool next year to attend the Trial of James Maybrick. Friedkin is attending the trial as he is planning to make a film about Florence’s life story.

The Trial is to be preceded on the Friday night by a tour of sites in Liverpool associated with James and Florence Maybrick. The tour will include his former homes in Aigburth, the city centre, where he also lived and worked and his grave in Anfield Cemetery. A highlight of the tour will be a visit to St. George’s Hall, the scene of Florence’s infamous trial for the murder of James. To make the tour even more enjoyable it will take place on vintage coaches.

There are also two lunchtimes sessions. On Saturday Albert Johnson will be present with the 'Maybrick Watch'. On Sunday there will be a visit to Battlecrease House, James and Florence's home.

Tickets for the two-day event are still available, priced £38. Further details of the trial can be obtained from Chris Jones, the event organiser at the Liverpool Cricket Club. We are confident that the truth about James Maybrick will finally emerge. James will either be vindicated or he could be identified as one of the most notorious serial killers in history.

I can be contacted on 07932-642344 or e-mail:
c.jones@gateacre.liverpool.sch.uk

Hope to see at least some of you. Liverpool is a great city.

Chris Jones

Chris Jones has provided the following additional details about the programme for the event:

Vincent Burke is going to speak primarily on the Florence Maybrick trial. It will help set the scene for the debate that is to follow. The case is also extremely interesting; most people agree it was a massive miscarriage of justice and it was one of the reasons why the Court of Appeal was established in Britain.

Shirley Harrison, David Canter and Bill Rubinstein are going to argue that Maybrick could well have been Jack the Ripper. Their evidence will be only partly based on the Diary and its content; other factors will include geographical profiling and evidence from other sources such as local and national newsapers and what we know about James' movements and behaviour.

Donald Rumbelow and Paul Begg will argue that is extremely unlikely that James was Jack the Ripper. They will no doubt seek to undermine the authenticity of the Diary.

Keith Skinner will speak last, prior to the panel session. He tends to take a rather neutral view on the Diary and the role of Maybrick.

All the speakers have a one hour and 15 minutes slot. Mike Barrett has a fifteen minute slot to make a statement. What he will say, I'm not entirely sure, however, he has assured me that he will be honest and frank about the Diary and the impact it has had on his life.

The Trial is NOT a commercial event - at best it will make a couple of thousand pounds - all of which will be spent on local children. No company is involved, no person makes a profit.

Tickets for the Trial have been sold in the USA. A Hollywood director is coming. I have received an e-mail from the Washington Post about the event.

There is a genuine debate about James Maybrick and his life. The whole affair is fascinating insight into late Victorian England - the contrasting roles of men and women; rich and poor.

Chris Jones

Hi Chris,
I can't wait ,it sounds like it's going to be a fasinating debate. I will be bringing my husband (he dose't have a choice). He dosen't understand the fasination, even though he has been a police officer for 30 years.
Maybe I'll be able to convert him then I'll be able to have indepth discussions
with him (then again pigs might fly).

Speak soon ,

Sue.

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Originally Posted by Hargy

Hi Chris,
I can't wait ,it sounds like it's going to be a fasinating debate. I will be bringing my husband (he dose't have a choice). He dosen't understand the fasination, even though he has been a police officer for 30 years.
Maybe I'll be able to convert him then I'll be able to have indepth discussions
with him (then again pigs might fly).

Speak soon ,

Sue.

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Hi Sue

That's great, I will look forward to meeting you and your husband then. I will be the one heckling from the back. :celb (23):

Chris

Hi all

This event is coming up this weekend and there may be still places open for anyone who would like to attend. Contact Chris Jones, the event organizer, see contact information above. There is to be a coach tour of Maybrick-associated sites on Friday night using a historic motor coach. My wife Donna and I will be in on the coach tour -- we are coming over from the U.S. specially for this event and a poetry reading I will be involved in at Albert Dock at lunchtime (12:30 pm) with area poets in connection with a new Liverpool anthology due to appear soon. Hope to see a number of you at one of the events at least!

Chris

JACK the Ripper suspect James Maybrick finally goes “on trial” tomorrow.

The case for and against the Liverpool cotton merchant’s identity as the notorious killer comes more than a century after his death.

The event at Liverpool Cricket Club is part of the city’s 800th birthday celebrations.

Experts will argue whether wealthy Victorian merchant Maybrick, a member of the cricket club, was the Ripper, who murdered women in London in the 1880s and was never caught.

Maybrick was first implicated in the early 1990s when a diary was discovered, supposedly written by him and in which he confessed to being the serial killer.

Launching the case for the prosecution will be Shirley Harrison, author of the book Diary of Jack the Ripper.

Speaking for the defence will be a range of Ripper experts, some of whom have travelled from America.

TV celebrity and crime guru, Jeremy Beadle, who has had a longstanding interest in both the Ripper murders and the Maybrick connection, will compère the event .

Tickets are £38, call 07932 642344 for more details.

IC Liverpool

Kidswheels benefitted by event

The was posted by organiser Chris Jones at Casebook: Jack the Ripper

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Hi everybody who attended the Maybrick Trial, I have a message to you from Paul Dodd. He wrote me a letter and asked me to thank all of you for being so generous.

He wrote, ' to raise over £1,000 in one weekend is absolutely fantastic and we really appreciate your support...as a local charity serving children who live within a relatively short distance from the cricket club, I felt this to be a particularly appropriate choice.' Best wishes, Paul Dodd M.B.E.

It just goes to show that whether you are pro-diary or anti-dairy, there are a lot of nice, generous people out there who frequent these message boards.

Big thanks to you all, Chris Jones

hi at moment i am reading a book called the poisoned life of mrs maybrick by bernard ryan with the rt hon the lord havers its very good and thats how i came aross this site as i googled the name james maybrick i am enjoying reading all the threads, anyway you list florence's lover as gerard and this book says his name is alfred also they had a housemaid called bessie brierley i wonder if they were related . i dont know whether the book got the name wrong or you did .

Shelly.


More details here:

http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...JAMES+MAYBRICK

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Originally Posted by shellyp

hi at moment i am reading a book called the poisoned life of mrs maybrick by bernard ryan with the rt hon the lord havers its very good and thats how i came aross this site as i googled the name james maybrick i am enjoying reading all the threads, anyway you list florence's lover as gerard and this book says his name is alfred also they had a housemaid called bessie brierley i wonder if they were related . i dont know whether the book got the name wrong or you did .

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Hi Shelly

I don't know where anyone here said Florence's lover was named Gerard. Could you point out the post? Florence's lover was definitely Alfred Brierley, a cottonbroker colleague of her husband James, who lived at 60 Huskisson Street. See this Times report on the coroner's inquest on Maybrick. Also Steve Horton's page on the Maybrick Case. I am not aware of any relationship between the servant in the Maybrick household, Bessie Brierley, and Alfred Brierley.

Chris

hi george it was on your post date 02/08/2007. the passage says we also have direst descendents of gerald brierly. if you go back on the threads you will find it thanks for replying i am new to forums just learning how to find my way round

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Originally Posted by shellyp

hi george it was on your post date 02/08/2007. the passage says we also have direst descendents of gerald brierly. if you go back on the threads you will find it thanks for replying i am new to forums just learning how to find my way round

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Thanks, Shelley. I was quoting a press release from Chris Jones, organizer of the Maybrick Trial. It should have read Alfred Brierley not Gerald Brierley and I have now made that correction. I understand Mr. Jones is starting a Maybrick website which should be up and running soon. Stay tuned for news about it.

All the best

Chris

Hi all

The origin of the name "Battlecrease" -- the house where Florence and James Maybrick lived on Riversdale Road in Aigburth -- was the subject of a question on one of the Ripper forums, and in answer I came up with following information.

I have just had a chance to check Christopher Jones's excellent The Maybrick A to Z (Countyvise Limited, 2008) and the entry on Battlecrease states the following on page 78:

"The actual title 'Battlecrease' derived from an agricultural term and not a military one. Before the Maybricks moved in, the house had no distinguishing name, it was Florence Maybrick herself who provided its title."

So I was wrong when I thought the house was already named Battlecrease when the Maybricks moved into the house in early 1888. The building was previously used as a private club, according to Jones, but when the club got into financial difficulties, the building was divided for use as private homes, the half on the west side, what is now 7 Riversdale Road, being the part that became Battlecrease House.

In a post on JtR Forums Jones also wrote--

The term 'battlecrease' is an agricultural one, nothing to do with cricket or wars. Local paper reports at the time suggest that Florence gave the name to the house herself.

For those who may not be aware of it, Tony May has on YouTube some video that he took during the Maybrick Trial at the Liverpool Cricket Ground in May 2007 that includes Battlecrease House and shots taken around the city, including in St. George's Hall. Go to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8JuhmsYyrg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSEbCa_GgO8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2gOaopJIas&feature=related

The last video mainly features still pictures with an evocative spoken musical track by the talented Mr. May.

Enjoy

Chris

I think that wherever Maybrick actually lived is totally irrelevent in talking about the Ripper Murders.

Hi George

Well I don't think that James Maybrick was Jack the Ripper, and I do believe the "Diary" is a hoax. Nonetheless the issue of the Diary and how it came to be is interesting as is the original Maybrick case, when Florence Maybrick was found guilty of killing her husband James by arsenic poisoning in May 1889.

Her book, Mrs. Maybrick's Own Story: My Lost Fifteen Years, is available on line. It has always interested me that in the opening of the book on page 21, she calls the place where she lived "a suburb of Liverpool called Aigworth [sic]."

Best regards

Chris

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6202/6...ff6dffec_z.jpg

Well as I've said all the long,I'll stick to Maybrick as the Ripper,too many coincidence's surround him.

Biggest one is he was always in London at the time of the Murders...bit of a coincidence don't ya think,him having his home in Liverpool like,so if you can give me information on a time he wasn't in London when any of the Murders took place then you might just persuade me to look at other suspects.

Did this Maybrick guy have anatomical knowledge? Surely the murders were carried out in such a way that would have suggested someone with a knowledge of surgery?

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Did this Maybrick guy have anatomical knowledge?

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Well you know we can learn from books....can't we,no one can rule out that Maybrick did not read books on Anatomy.

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Originally Posted by GeorgePorgie

Well as I've said all the long,I'll stick to Maybrick as the Ripper,too many coincidence's surround him.

Biggest one is he was always in London at the time of the Murders...bit of a coincidence don't ya think,him having his home in Liverpool like,so if you can give me information on a time he wasn't in London when any of the Murders took place then you might just persuade me to look at other suspects.

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Hi George

Sorry but no proof has been produced to show that Maybrick was in London at the time of the murders. Where did you get that from? Someone had the clever scheme to make Maybrick the Ripper, to link two famous Victorian murders together, but for me it's a contrived scenario and not one that that rings true.

All the best

Chris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChrisGeorge

Hi George

Well I don't think that James Maybrick was Jack the Ripper, and I do believe the "Diary" is a hoax. Nonetheless the issue of the Diary and how it came to be is interesting as is the original Maybrick case, when Florence Maybrick was found guilty of killing her husband James by arsenic poisoning in May 1889.

Her book, Mrs. Maybrick's Own Story: My Lost Fifteen Years, is available on line. It has always interested me that in the opening of the book on page 21, she calls the place where she lived "a suburb of Liverpool called Aigworth [sic]."

Best regards

Chris

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6202/6...ff6dffec_z.jpg

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Thanks for that link to My Fifteen Lost Years Chris, I spent most of yesterday reading that, was a good read.

I believe James Maybrick was right handed. Apparently the Ripper killings were attributed to someone left-handed?

I also read that the samples of Maybrick's handwriting are nothing like those of the diary - proof indeed that it is a forgery.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spider-Man

I believe James Maybrick was right handed. Apparently the Ripper killings were attributed to someone left-handed?

I also read that the samples of Maybrick's handwriting are nothing like those of the diary - proof indeed that it is a forgery.

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Hi Spiderman

Well certainly the writing in the Diary, if you will, is "inspired" by the Ripper letters. And you are right, it looks like the writing of someone trying to emulate the writing in the Dear Boss letter and other famous letters in the case.

All the best

Chris

---------- Post added at 03:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:37 AM ----------

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Originally Posted by SteH

Thanks for that link to My Fifteen Lost Years Chris, I spent most of yesterday reading that, was a good read.

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Thanks, SteH, glad you got a kick out of that. I was at a script conference on Tuesday for a docudrama in the works about Francis Scott Key to be produced by Maryland Public Television. He's the guy, you will probably know, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner" about the bombardment of Fort McHenry, Baltimore. It so happens that his grandson, Frank Key Howard, a southern sympathizer, was . . . irony of ironies!. . . imprisoned in Fort McHenry at the time of the Civil War. Howard's book, Fourteen Months in American Bastiles, is available on Google Books also.

Cheers

Chris :PDT_Aliboronz_24: