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Casebook: Jack the Ripper - Message Boards » Suspects » Bury, William Henry » Psychological profile of William Bury « Previous Next »

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Eddie Grayson
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Posted on Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 4:19 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

A psychological profile of the Ripper was published in the American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, 1989. The author was William G Eckert. a link to the German site in which I found the report is;-
http://www.jacktheripper.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=96&view=previous&sid=1759ff35f5c3e08b56beaf05ec8056c3

Eckert pulled together existing knowledge and the opinons of various experts, I’ll summarise their main points.


Jack the Ripper;-
1) Drunk spirits locally, then wandered Whitechapel, returned after crimes to a safe area,

2) Stopped killing because he was almost caught or arrested for another crime. (Not suicide or on his own accord).

3) Believed murders were justified because of low regard for victims.

4) Attacks took place in a secondary comfort zone; initial attacks would have been closer to home.

5) Method of approach, selection and initial attack is the modus operandi and would improve with experience.

6) The mutations form the ritual afterwards that would generally become elaborate, but not necessarily always the case, only if circumstances allowed.

7) Would be unlikely to communicate by letters with the police, media, and family. If he did he would provide specifics about the case that only he knew. Publicity/attention not primary motivation.

8) Age bracket 28 – 36 (would expect onset to be mid to late 20s)

9) Would not look out of place, but dress up to attract victims to initiate contact.

10) In childhood failed to receive consistent care from stable parents/adult.

11) Detached socially, diminished emotional response towards people in general.

12) Would be cruel and dominating towards women

13) Below or above average in height

14) A non-severe physical abnormality

15) Unlikely to be married, if married it would be with someone older and wouldn’t last long,

16) Would not be good at meeting women, would have used prostitutes, may have been infected with a venerable disease that would fuel hatred

17) May have been interviewed by police and overlooked and eliminated as a suspect because didn’t fit with preconceived ideas of what Jack the Ripper did look like.

Thanks to excellent work by McPherson and Beadle we can now compare the above points using examples of what we know about Bury.

1) Bury;- We know spent time drinking and wandering, had time and flexibility.
2) Bury;- Moved out of area and arrested for wife’s murder feb 1889
3) In Bury’s confession he blames his wife’s occupation.
4 ) We don’t know about this but there were some savage attacks by a man with a knife in Bow prior to murders.
5) Strangled his wife with a cord from behind.
6) Bury stopped mutilations of his wife after intial attacks, why? to put hide her in a box?
7) If Bury was the Ripper he did not make his confession very clear.
8) Bury 28/29
9) We know Bury dressed well in Dundee.
10) Father dead, mother interned at birth. We don’t know much about guardians,
11) Bad work references, would steal from employers, stole money from wife to fund drinking.
12) Regularly beat wife, threatened her wife knife, slept with knife under pillow etc
13) Bury was short at 5/3’’
14) ???
15) Ellen, few years older, marriage unsuccessful,
16) Bury did become infected and infected Ellen, (or vice versa) Ellen was a prostitute before marrying Bury
17) Bury was overlooked by police, continues to be overlooked by many ripperologists.

In conclusion I would say that Bury fits the psychological profile of the Jack the Ripper very well, more so then other current ripper suspects ive read about.

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