JACK THE RIPPER FINALLY UNMASKED AFTER 136-YEARS OF INVESTIGATING AND DNA DISCOVERY

The identity of Jack the Ripper has been a mystery the police, and later the world of true crime aficionados, have been grappling with forever. Over the years, a variety of allegations have been made about him, such as the belief that he was a well-known French painter or the grandson of Queen Victoria.

Several suspects have been put forward as the real identity of Jack the Ripper, but whoever the infamous serial killer was, they are long since deceased. The majority of our knowledge about the Ripper comes from his treatment of five of his confirmed victims; evidence from one of them has led one author to declare that he has 'finally unmasked' the murderous figure.

Catherine Eddowes was the fourth victim of the Ripper. She was discovered dead on September 30, 1888, the same night Elizabeth Stride was also killed.

One of the police officers removed a shawl from the scene of Eddowes' murder and took it home. Russell Edwards later purchased the shawl at auction. After putting it through DNA testing, he discovered semen and blood stains on the shawl; the blood type matched that of an Eddowes descendent. The Mirror reports that Edwards claims the semen stains matched the DNA of a distant relative of Aaron Kosminski, one of the most well-known suspects in the Ripper case.

In his book Naming Jack the Ripper, Edwards identified Kosminski as a notorious serial killer. He has since published a follow-up, Naming Jack the Ripper: The Definitive Reveal.

He again implicates Kosminski in the book, stating that the police thought he had "strong homicidal tendencies" and a "great hatred of women, especially of the prostitute class."

However, the claims of getting DNA evidence from the shawl have been contested over the years.

Expert on the Ripper Andrew Smith stated in 2014 that "forensic evidence is needed to solve this case, and it is not available." He also stated that it was "very unlikely" that any DNA evidence on the shawl had not been tainted over time.

The authenticity of the shawl was questioned, and the cold case remained very much open, according to Mick Reed of the University of New England, who wrote in The Conversation. Edwards had a forensic analysis done on the shawl by Dr Jari Louhelainen of Liverpool John Moore's University, but several experts claimed at the time of the initial DNA work that there had been a "serious DNA error," according to The Independent.

They claim that he made a "nomenclature error" that, if fixed, would connect the DNA to "more than 99 per cent of people of European descent."

Do you believe Jack's true identity is still a mystery, or do you believe the Ripper case is over?