| Jack the Ripper: A Suspect Guide |
This text is from the E-book Jack the Ripper: A Suspect Guide by Christopher J. Morley (2005). Click here to return to the table of contents. The text is unedited, and any errors or omissions rest with the author. Our thanks go out to Christopher J. Morley for his permission to publish his E-book.
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Fleming was born in 1859 and was a stone mason-plasterer, who lived with Mary Kelly in Bethnal Green Road, prior to her meeting Joseph Barnett. Her relationship with Fleming appeared to be serious, for there was talk of marriage at one time. It is not known why the relationship ended, but Kelly's drinking may have been a contributing factor. Despite their relationship having ended, and even though Kelly was now living with Joseph Barnett, Fleming would, according to Julia Venturney her friend and neighbour, still visit Kelly and give her money and made no secret of the fact that he wanted her back. It is therefore feasible they were still lovers. Kelly confided in her friend Julia Venturney that she could no longer tolerate Barnett, and was fond of a man named Joe (presumably this was Joseph Fleming).
Fleming, according to Venturney, often ill treated Kelly because she now lived with Barnett, if therefore Fleming murdered Kelly and his motive was jealousy, this does not explain the other four Ripper murders. Apart from the fact Fleming knew Mary Kelly and still visited her, there is nothing else, it would seem, to connect him with the Whitechapel murders, nor lead us to assume he was Jack the Ripper.
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