WARNING: This article contains some disturbing and violent language

An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after stabbing 3 women in Portsmouth, England between the 20th of June and the 11th of July 2014.

This is not a news report, nor a critique of the society that breeds behaviour like this (though that is a multifaceted and interesting topic of debate, and one which no doubt will be examined as the case develops — see bottom). Instead, I want to focus on the parallels I have noticed between this case and the Whitechapel murders of 1888 committed by the notorious, as-yet-unidentified Jack the Ripper, with a particular focus on the language used and themes present in their letters to the police.

Jack signed off one of his many alleged letters with “Catch me when you Can”, while Ben Moynihan, the teenager arrested for attempting to kill three women, uses “CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!” in his. Nowadays this is a common phrase, but The Ripper’s use was innovative, and you have to wonder whether Moynihan’s use was inspired by the Whitechapel Murders.

The Taunting

The Police Illustrated News’ impression of Jack the Ripper, 1888

Jack the Ripper, or someone posing as the killer, wrote letters to the police, taunting them for their inadequacies and mis-identification of suspects, such as the ‘From Hell’ letter, “They say I’m a doctor now. Ha Ha”. Accompanying this was a piece of human kidney which he stated belonged to Catherine Eddowes. Was the Ripper enjoying the police’s pursuit? Using a very similar tone, Ben Moynihan also criticised the police for their perceived incompetence while pursuing him, “You Police men are very pathetic/Now you arrest someone who is 30, I’m only 17 years old…”.

The Boasting & Warnings

The Ripper also bragged of previous crimes, and warned of future ones. In the infamous ‘Dear Boss’ letter where he officially names himself as Jack the Ripper, there is a chilling threat, “The next job I do I shall clip the ladys[sic] ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly”. While it is contentious whether this, or indeed any of the letters that the police received, were genuinely from the killer, this foreshadowed the grim murder of Catherine Eddowes in which one of her earlobes was severed.

Ben Moynihan also fantasises about future crimes in his letter, “hopefully next time I can gauge[sic] their eyeballs out” and envisions grotesque acts like removing pieces of his victims, “smell the flesh I ripped out” in much the same way that Jack did; “send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you t’other piece I fried and ate it was very nise.”[sic]

The court sentencing Ben Moynihan heard that he is on the autistic spectrum. He “was both fit for trial and to give evidence in court.”

The Motive

It seems that both of these macabre sprees were performed because of a deep-rooted hatred of women. While Jack the Ripper was never caught and thus his motives were never definitively proven, it is clear from his actions that he had an innate fury directed at the opposite gender. Moynihan, however, was caught, and his motives have indeed been revealed. In his own words, “I was planning to murder mainly women as an act of revenge because of the life they gave me, I’m still a virgin at 17”. He goes on to say “I attack women because I grew up to believe them as a more weaker[sic] part of the human breed”.

His own shame (at such a trivial and juvenile matter of virginity) completely skewed his perception of women in general and as his letters and diaries revealed, his mind was made up; “that’s why you are my chosen target”.

In court, he was accused of being ‘obsessed’ with serial killers. This could possibly be why there are other parallels too, like the fact that all of both perpetrators’ crimes were committed on a weekend. While this probably isn’t related, you may wonder whether Ben Moynihan was crafting his crimes in order to channel the Ripper and his.

Below are links to the original story as well as victim support and crime prevention information. There is also an interesting article about how to address issues that cause people like Moynihan to act upon their dark fantasies and carry out these violent crimes.

Jake Connor