Francis Thompson in 1888. He was an ex-medical student with a dissecting
scalpel, and a history of mental illness and trouble with the police. He
had just broken up with a prostitute and had written about cutting
women's stomachs open. At the same time, a few yards from his refuge, a
woman was knifed, as part of a spate of prostitute murders, which one
coroner said was by someone who had considerable anatomical skill and
knowledge. Richard A. Patterson sets out a compelling case for English
poet Francis Thompson as the prime suspect for Jack the Ripper in this
must-read for Ripperologists the world over.