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5 unusual facts about Wearside Jack


Castletown, Sunderland

During the search for the Yorkshire Ripper, the accent of "Wearside Jack", the author of a hoax letter claiming to be from the Ripper, was identified by the forensic linguist Stanley Ellis as that of the Castletown area.

Wearside Jack

A major breakthrough came during 2005 when senior officers from West Yorkshire Police's Homicide and Major Inquiry Team (HMET), headed by Det Chief Supt Chris Gregg, decided to review the case.

Postmarked from Sunderland, two were addressed to George Oldfield, the Assistant Chief Constable of the West Yorkshire Police who was heading the Ripper inquiry, and one to the Daily Mirror.

As a result of this cold case review, DNA from envelopes sent by Humble as part of the hoax were matched in the United Kingdom National DNA Database with samples police had obtained from Humble in an unrelated incident in 2000, when he had been arrested and cautioned for being drunk and disorderly.

In addition, the US profiling expert Robert Ressler revealed in his book, "Whoever Fights Monsters", that he told the British police that the main tape was a hoax immediately when he heard it.



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