You and Chris are such rationalists! My basic premise is that it will never be possible to prove the Ripper's identity conclusively. Any criminal investigator knows that non-familial murderers are hard to find. I read somewhere that there's a window of about two weeks to track them down and then it becomes increasingly difficult to find them unless they have a psychological need to get caught or slip up through complacency. Most serial killers don't have this need and don't slip up. I can't remember the estimates but the FBI has stated that at any one time there are approximately x serial killers on the lose in the States who will probably never get caught.
Retrospectively applying this analysis to Jack. Need I say more. After all this time...
In terms of Maybrick, I take a 'murder-she-wrote' stance. One moment I'm dipping a madeleine into a cup of tea and the next moment, peverse synchronicity, call it what you will. It comes to me. The 'diary' reveals a hidden knowledge, an accumulated understanding that points in one direction. I'm even prepared to accept that parts of it are real, but embellished by little ol' wine drinking Barrett.
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