Why was jack the ripper never caught?
The police were under massive amounts of pressure – the press mocked and derided them, the government constantly criticised them and even the Queen got in on the act. As for why he was never caught – there are a number of possible reasons He probably knew the area better than the police – it was a maze of back alleys and courtyards. The people living in the area hated the police and didn’t really want to co-operate – and by the time they did, it was too late. And Whitechapel was overcrowded – it was heaving with people, including many non-English speaking immigrants, all of whom wanted to avoid the police. Forensic techniques were in their infancy – this is pre-fingerprints. What clues that were left behind were destroyed by policeman covering victims up before they could be photographed in situ, crowds and photographers scrambling over the scene. The most pertinent clue – the writing on the wall near one of the bodies, found near a handkerchief possibly covered in Catherine Eddows blo
