Jack the Ripper
The Ripper is the popular name given to a murderer who killed at least five women who worked as prostitutes in London's East End in 1888.
His reign of terror lasted for 12 weeks from the end of August that year until the second week of November. Other murders may also have been committed by him, but it is these five which are recognised as the core, or “canon”, murders.
All his victims were prostitutes who lived a deeply impoverished existence in the slums of Victorian Whitechapel. He used a long, sharp knife to slit the women’s throats. Most were disembowelled and mutilated.
Despite more than 120 years of amateur sleuthing, the mystery of the Ripper's identity has never been solved.