Has this locket finally unmasked Jack the Ripper? Descendant of fifth victim claims tiny photo proves serial killer was Queen Victoria's surgeon

Antonia Alexander names royal surgeon Sir John Williams as Jack the Ripper



The author claims she is the great-great-great-granddaughter of the serial killer's fifth and final victim Mary Kelly

She says a tiny photograph in a locket proves Sir John's guilt



Culprit? Royal surgeon Sir John Williams has been named as Jack the Ripper by a descendant of one of the serial killer's victims

A second book has named Queen Victoria's surgeon Sir John Williams as the infamous Jack the Ripper - and it is written by a descendant of one of the serial killer's victims.

Author Antonia Alexander claims she is the great-great-great-granddaughter of the Ripper's fifth and final victim Mary Kelly.

She points the finger at Sir John, who founded the National Library of Wales, in Aberystwyth, and acted as surgeon for the royal family.

It follows a book released last year by Tony Williams, the great-great nephew of Sir John, who also accuses the prominent surgeon of being behind the notorious killings on the cobbled streets of London's Whitechapel in 1888.

Ms Alexander's investigation started after she discovered a photograph of a man in a 125-year-old locket contained in Mary's belongings was not of the victim's husband - as she had initially believed - but of Sir John.



'It's part of our family history that Mary had an affair for a number of years with a doctor who had taken her to places like Paris,' said the mother-of-two, who released her book The Fifth Victim earlier this month.



'But the doctor married someone else and Mary also got married so everyone believed the photo in the locket was of her husband.

'But my research has shown she was in fact carrying around the photo of her lover, Sir John Williams.'

Descendant: Author Antonia Alexander claims she is the great-great-great-granddaughter of the Ripper's fifth and final victim Mary Kelly. She points the finger at Sir John, who founded the National Library of Wales, in Aberystwyth

Born in Gwynfe, Carmarthenshire in 1840, Sir John trained as a doctor in London, working at a number of institutions.



He had a surgery in Whitechapel at the time of the Ripper killings, which claimed the lives of at least five women.

A life-long collector of Welsh books and manuscripts, he was the principle founder of the National Library of Wales, living at a house called Blaenllynant in Victoria Terrace on Aberystwyth's seafront, which is now the Glengower Hotel, until his death in 1926.



Victim: An illustration of Mary Kelly shortly after she was murdered by Jack the Ripper. She was about 25 years old at the time of her death

In his book Uncle Jack: A Victorian Mystery, Tony Williams argues that the Welsh surgeon had the medical knowledge to remove vital organs from the victims; that he knew the victims from clinics he ran in Whitechapel, and that pages of his 1888 diary have been removed while other diaries are intact.



He also claimed that Sir John had been devastated he and his Swansea-born wife Lizzie could not have children and was desperate to find methods to increase fertility.

During the Whitechapel murder spree, the Ripper killed women and removed their sexual and internal organs with surgical precision.

'The uterus were removed from the victims, and I believe John Williams wanted to understand the function of the ovaries, their relation to fertility and to see if he could use the organs he removed from the women to complete his research,' said Mr Williams.

Evidence: Ms Alexander's investigation started after she discovered a photograph of a man in a 125-year-old locket (pictured) contained in Mary's belongings was that of the victim's husband, but one of Sir John

'He retired from practice in 1903, so why did he keep the surgical knife and glass slides among the personal possessions he left in the library?'

OTHER RIPPER SUSPECTS

Montague John Druitt , Dorset-born barrister, committed suicide in the Thames shortly after last murder

Seweryn Kłosowski alias George Chapman, poisoned three of his wives and was hanged in 1903

Aaron Kosminski, suspected by police, admitted to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum and died there

Dr Thomas Neill Cream, poisoned four London prostitutes with strychnine and was hanged

Sir William Withey Gull, royal physician named as a member of a masonic conspiracy

When the killings suddenly stopped, Sir John is claimed to have told friends he'd had a nervous breakdown and retired from London life - moving to Aberystwyth in West Wales.



Mr Williams has uncovered documents showing his ancestor carried out an abortion in 1885 on Mary Ann Nichols - who later became the Ripper's first victim.

Mr Williams even discovered a letter sent by Sir John in 1888 in which he apologises for canceling an evening dinner appointment on September 8 because he had to go to a clinic in Whitechapel.

That was the date the Ripper's second victim Annie Chapman was murdered.

He also matched a knife in Sir John's collection with the pathologist's description of the murder weapon and found that three medical slides from Sir John's collection contained smears from a human uterus.



Ms Alexander said: 'My book centres on the ultimately tragic romance Mary had with Sir John Williams.

Allegations: Miss Alexander's claims follow Tony Williams' (pictured) book Uncle Jack: A Victorian Mystery



Notorious: An illustration published in the Police Gazette in 1888 depicting Jack the Ripper attacking a woman

'It was a great shock when we found the photo in Mary's locket was that of Sir John.



'It proves the relationship between them.'

The true identity of the Ripper has never been known, with the list of suspects nearly 100-long.

They include the Duke of Clarence, the grandson of the then-reigning monarch Queen Victoria, who is alleged to have learned disembowelling techniques on deer.



Montague John Druitt, a barrister and 'gentleman of good family' wasn't suspected until 1959, when Sir Melville Macnaghten's case notes described him as 'sexually insane'.

It was reported that 'even his own family suspected him of being the Whitechapel Murderer'.

Druitt committed suicide in 1888, drowning himself in the Thames with pockets full of stones.