The Return of the Ripper?: The Murder of Frances Coles

In the early hours of a cold February morning in 1891, the murdered body of Frances Coles was discovered beneath a railway arch in London’s Swallow Gardens. The nature of her wounds, the weapon used to inflict them, and the murder site itself were clear indicators for many that London’s most famous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, had returned.

But just how does Whitechapel’s notorious murderer fit in with the facts surrounding the case?

Contentious then as it still is today, is it reasonable to assume Frances Coles’ death proved to be the last in the Ripper’s reign of terror? Or was he long gone from Whitechapel’s streets by the time of her murder?

There can be no doubting the facts surrounding the killing are just as mysterious as those that involved the murders of Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Mary Jane Kelly and, intriguingly, several others. All these women died in a similar fashion and their cases still sit in Whitechapel’s unsolved murder files. However, unlike those that had gone before, in the case of Frances Coles there was a serious suspect.

How involved was the suspect in the Frances Coles murder and did he have anything to do with any of the earlier murders carried out in Whitechapel? These questions have remained unanswered, until now. In The Return of The Ripper? Kevin Turton re-examines the facts behind the Coles murder case and the potential links with the unsolved Whitechapel murders of the 1880s.