Jack the Ripper's identity potentially revealed in DNA breakthrough

The true identity of serial murderer Jack the Ripper may finally be officially confirmed through DNA samples.

It’s been more than 130 years since the serial killer Jack the Ripper committed his gruesome crimes in East London and to this day their true identity has yet to be revealed.

However, researchers investigating the murders are calling for a man named Aaron Kosminski to be held responsible for the crimes.

Kosminski was a Polish immigrant who died in 1919. Despite being the prime suspect as Jack the Ripper, he was never formally charged with the crimes.

A breakthrough was made in 2019 when a DNA sample was taken from a shawl found at the murder scene of victim Catherine Eddowes.

The mitochondrial DNA was compared with a sample given by one of Kosminski’s living relatives and was found to be a match, according to findings published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.

“It’s very difficult to put into words the elation I felt when I saw the 100 per cent DNA match,” Russell Edwards, whose research led to the findings, told The Sun. “This brings closure and a form of justice for the descendants.”

Karen Miller, a living descendant of Eddowes, has called for further action to officially confirm the findings and legally hold Kosminski responsible for the murders.

“We have the proof,” Miller told the Daily Mail. “Now we need this inquest to legally name the killer.”

However, some experts have cautioned against inferring a conclusive answer from the DNA testing, because of the type of material that was tested.

Hansi Weissensteiner, from the Innsbruck Medical University in Austria, explained to Science.org that mitochondrial DNA analysis is only capable of confirming if two DNA samples are related to one another.

They explained: “Based on mitochondrial DNA one can only exclude a suspect.”

It comes as a woman missing for 52 years was found alive and well after several public appeals, meanwhile, a woman found her grandfather on Google Maps years after he passed away.

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