Victorian serial killer featured in the Newbury Weekly News

The grisly exploits of an infamous serial killer once featured in our newspaper.

The issue of Newbury Weekly News published on November 15, 1888 had particularly a morbid character.

It included a report on the final believed victim of Jack the Ripper, the notorious unidentified serial killer who terrorised the East End of London in 1888.

The report read:

"ANOTHER EAST END ATROCITY: MURDER OF A SEVENTH WOMAN: HORRIBLE MUTILATION OF THE VICTIM

"Early on Friday morning, another shocking murder was perpetrated in the East End of London, the crime being carried out in a most horrible manner. This is the seventh which has occurred, and the character of the mutilations leaves very little doubt that the murderer in this instance is the same person who has committed the previous ones."

The victim in question was Mary Ann Kelly, the Ripper's fifth known victim, who was murdered on Friday, November 9, 1888.

The report lists her as the seventh victim, since 11 murders were committed between April 3, 1888 and February 13, 1891, the so-called 'Whitechapel murders', but only five of these are considered linked to the Ripper.

The graphic description of her body's mutilation detailed in the report is consistent with the Ripper's unique brand of savagery. It further notes the popular theory that the Ripper may have worked as a butcher or in a similar trade, due the surgical precision he demonstrated in his killings.

The Ripper would kill again and still resonates as one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries.

Also reported in the same issue is the tragic and as yet unsolved death of an infant at The Plough pub in Thatcham.