A skull once thought to have belonged to notorious Australian outlaw Ned Kelly may in fact have belonged to a British murderer who was once thought to have been Jack the Ripper.
Frederick Deeming was hanged in Australia in 1892 for killing women and children, 12 years after Ned Kelly, who was of British convict descent, was hanged. Kelly and Deeming bore a striking resemblance to each other and Deeming told fellow prisoners that he was Jack the Ripper.
Because of the striking resemblance of the two men, it is now not known for sure whether the skull being kept in a museum run by the National Trust of Australia is that of Kelly or Deeming. The two men's death masks also look alike.
Scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Australia, where Prof Ranson is deputy director, had the supposed Kelly skull examined by experts and gave it a CT scan, but were none the wiser, despite the fact that the forensic pathologists managed to obtain DNA from one of Kelly's descendants.
Now a forensic pathologist, Professor David Ranson, is heading to the UK to ask relatives of Deeming to come forward and give their DNA.
Kelly was captured at Glenrowan on June 28th 1880 following a violent showdown. He was dressed in a home-made suit of armour. He was hanged for murder at the Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880.
When Deeming was hanged in 1892, more than 12,000 people in the street outside cheered wildly.
After his execution three months later, newspapers including the New York Times began publishing stories that Deeming had been sighted in Whitechapel in London's East End in 1888, the year of Jack the Ripper's killings, and was seen purchasing knives.
Ned Kelly was born in the Australian state of Victoria in 1854 at the time that Australia was nothing more than a British penal colony. He was born to an Irish convict father.
Britain sent many of its convicts to Australia between 1787 and 1868. The first fleet set sail from Portsmouth on 13th May 1787. There were 775 convicts on board six transport ships.
The main reason why Britain decided to send its convicts to Australia was because, after the American War of Independence, it could no longer send its convicts to America. At the time, there were 222 capital offences in Britain.
Is this the skull of Jack the Ripper... or outlaw Ned Kelly? DNA may solve mystery of the two killers buried next to each other
By Daily Mail Reporter
29th December 2010
Daily Mail
A skull long believed to be that of legendary Australian outlaw Ned Kelly may in fact be that of a notorious British murderer thought to have been Jack the Ripper.
Forensic pathologist Professor David Ranson is heading to the UK to ask relatives of the hanged English killer Frederick Bailey Deeming to come forward and give their DNA.
'A simple swab from the mouth of any person from the female line of the Deeming family will help us answer this fascinating piece of folklore,' said Professor Ranson,
'It can be from a man, but he would have to be from that side of the line - mother, sister, aunt.'
Mystery: Death mask of Ned Kelly in Melbourne museum with the skull which may belong to Frederick Deeming
Deeming was a 19th century wife-killer, bigamist, thief and conman, who murdered women and children on opposite sides of the world.
After his execution in Melbourne, Australia, for murder in 1892, it was speculated that he committed the Whitechapel Murders. His brothers and sisters distanced themselves by taking the name Bailey, their mother's maiden name.
Edward 'Ned' Kelly was seen by some as a cold-blooded killer, by others as a folk hero for his defiance of the colonial authorities.
After he killed three policemen, Kelly and his gang were declared outlaws.
A violent showdown took place at Glenrowan on June 28, 1880, when Kelly, famously dressed in a home-made suit of armour, was captured.
He was hanged for murder at the Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880.
Killers: Edward 'Ned' Kelly on the day before his execution in 1880, left, and Frederick Bailey Deeming. They were both hanged in Melbourne.
In 1978, the Kelly skull was stolen from a glass cabinet at the jail, which is now a museum run by the National Trust of Australia.
Last year, Tom Baxter, a West Australian farmer, handed in a skull, saying it was the one stolen from the museum. He refused to explain how he came by it.
Now Professor Ranson, is trying, on behalf of the Victoria coroner, to authenticate whether the skull is that of Kelly, or belongs to Deeming.
Scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, where Prof Ranson is deputy director, had the supposed Kelly skull examined by experts and gave it a CT scan, but were none the wiser, despite the fact that the forensic pathologists managed to obtain DNA from one of Kelly's descendants.
Their problem is that not only is the skull a close match to the death mask of Kelly, but also resembles one of Deeming. Both plaster casts are held at the jail, which is where both men were executed and buried close by each other in the prison yard.
They were later dug up and moved to Melbourne's Pentridge Prison, and buried in a mass graves at a quarry there, only be to moved yet again when the prison was sold for a housing development.
When Deeming was hanged, more than 12,000 people in the street outside cheered wildly.
He had committed crimes on three continents, using at least 20 aliases. In 1887, while in Australia, Deeming was jailed for 14 days under a charge of bankruptcy.
Crimes: Ned Kelly in armour cornered by police, left, and an imaginative illustration of Jack the Ripper at work
The next year he took his family to Cape Town, South Africa, becoming known there as a fraud, and swiftly moving on to Johannesburg.
He sent his family back to England to live at Rainhill, near Liverpool, and later followed, on the way enjoying a spell in prison for a swindle at a jewellery shop in Hull.
OTHER RIPPER SUSPECTS
While living at Hull he wooed Helen Matheson, the 21-year-old daughter of his landlady, married her, bigamously.
After he joined his wife and children at Rainhill, they mysteriously disappeared. Deeming told neighbours they were his sister and her children, who had "returned home".
He married another woman, Emily Mather, and the pair emigrated to Australia, in November, 1891. Deeming murdered Emily in Melbourne on Christmas Eve, and told neighbours that she had gone abroad and went on the run.
The owner of the house in Windsor, Melbourne, found he could not let it due to a foul smell.
Becoming suspicious, he called in the police, who found the second Mrs Deeming cemented under a fireplace, throat cut.
Within days, newspapers in Australia were connecting the killing to the Whitechapel Murders of London.
The Liverpool police were alerted and searched the house at Rainhill. They found his first wife Marie James and their four children, aged from 18 months to nine years old, under the reconcreted kitchen floor, all with their throats cut.
Deeming was caught and arrested in March, 1892, in Perth, Western Australia.
After his execution three months later, newspapers including the New York Times began publishing stories that Deeming had been sighted in Whitechapel in London's East End in 1888 and was seen purchasing knives.
Within these walls: Old Melbourne Gaol, in Victoria, where outlaw Ned Kelly and murderer Frederick Deeming were both hanged and laid to rest. It is now a museum run by the National Trust of Australia
While in prison, he had told fellow inmates that he was Jack The Ripper. But he never confessed to authorities.
Professor Ranson said: 'We are hoping to find one of Fred Deeming's relatives in Ireland, England or Scotland who will be willing to help.
'This is recent history, going back about three generations, so I am confident the distant relatives are out there.'
Relatives of Deeming, who had 11 brothers and sisters, may still live on Merseyside.
Deb Withers, a spokesman for his institute, said: 'Our British genealogist has researched the Deeming family and many of them appear to have remained in Liverpool and Birkenhead, so we're hoping anyone from the area can help us solve this mystery.
'Deeming had plenty of siblings so we think there must be someone out there, and as it is only going back a few generations it's not such a long shot.'
dailymail.co.uk
Frederick Deeming was hanged in Australia in 1892 for killing women and children, 12 years after Ned Kelly, who was of British convict descent, was hanged. Kelly and Deeming bore a striking resemblance to each other and Deeming told fellow prisoners that he was Jack the Ripper.
Because of the striking resemblance of the two men, it is now not known for sure whether the skull being kept in a museum run by the National Trust of Australia is that of Kelly or Deeming. The two men's death masks also look alike.
Scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Australia, where Prof Ranson is deputy director, had the supposed Kelly skull examined by experts and gave it a CT scan, but were none the wiser, despite the fact that the forensic pathologists managed to obtain DNA from one of Kelly's descendants.
Now a forensic pathologist, Professor David Ranson, is heading to the UK to ask relatives of Deeming to come forward and give their DNA.
Kelly was captured at Glenrowan on June 28th 1880 following a violent showdown. He was dressed in a home-made suit of armour. He was hanged for murder at the Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880.
When Deeming was hanged in 1892, more than 12,000 people in the street outside cheered wildly.
After his execution three months later, newspapers including the New York Times began publishing stories that Deeming had been sighted in Whitechapel in London's East End in 1888, the year of Jack the Ripper's killings, and was seen purchasing knives.
Ned Kelly was born in the Australian state of Victoria in 1854 at the time that Australia was nothing more than a British penal colony. He was born to an Irish convict father.
Britain sent many of its convicts to Australia between 1787 and 1868. The first fleet set sail from Portsmouth on 13th May 1787. There were 775 convicts on board six transport ships.
The main reason why Britain decided to send its convicts to Australia was because, after the American War of Independence, it could no longer send its convicts to America. At the time, there were 222 capital offences in Britain.
Is this the skull of Jack the Ripper... or outlaw Ned Kelly? DNA may solve mystery of the two killers buried next to each other
By Daily Mail Reporter
29th December 2010
Daily Mail
- English murderer Frederick Deeming was executed in Australia in 1892
- Kelly was hanged in same Melbourne jail in 1880
- Deeming, who bore resemblance to Kelly, told prisoners he was the Ripper
A skull long believed to be that of legendary Australian outlaw Ned Kelly may in fact be that of a notorious British murderer thought to have been Jack the Ripper.
Forensic pathologist Professor David Ranson is heading to the UK to ask relatives of the hanged English killer Frederick Bailey Deeming to come forward and give their DNA.
'A simple swab from the mouth of any person from the female line of the Deeming family will help us answer this fascinating piece of folklore,' said Professor Ranson,
'It can be from a man, but he would have to be from that side of the line - mother, sister, aunt.'
Mystery: Death mask of Ned Kelly in Melbourne museum with the skull which may belong to Frederick Deeming
Deeming was a 19th century wife-killer, bigamist, thief and conman, who murdered women and children on opposite sides of the world.
After his execution in Melbourne, Australia, for murder in 1892, it was speculated that he committed the Whitechapel Murders. His brothers and sisters distanced themselves by taking the name Bailey, their mother's maiden name.
Edward 'Ned' Kelly was seen by some as a cold-blooded killer, by others as a folk hero for his defiance of the colonial authorities.
After he killed three policemen, Kelly and his gang were declared outlaws.
A violent showdown took place at Glenrowan on June 28, 1880, when Kelly, famously dressed in a home-made suit of armour, was captured.
He was hanged for murder at the Old Melbourne Gaol in November 1880.
Killers: Edward 'Ned' Kelly on the day before his execution in 1880, left, and Frederick Bailey Deeming. They were both hanged in Melbourne.
In 1978, the Kelly skull was stolen from a glass cabinet at the jail, which is now a museum run by the National Trust of Australia.
Last year, Tom Baxter, a West Australian farmer, handed in a skull, saying it was the one stolen from the museum. He refused to explain how he came by it.
Now Professor Ranson, is trying, on behalf of the Victoria coroner, to authenticate whether the skull is that of Kelly, or belongs to Deeming.
Scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, where Prof Ranson is deputy director, had the supposed Kelly skull examined by experts and gave it a CT scan, but were none the wiser, despite the fact that the forensic pathologists managed to obtain DNA from one of Kelly's descendants.
Their problem is that not only is the skull a close match to the death mask of Kelly, but also resembles one of Deeming. Both plaster casts are held at the jail, which is where both men were executed and buried close by each other in the prison yard.
They were later dug up and moved to Melbourne's Pentridge Prison, and buried in a mass graves at a quarry there, only be to moved yet again when the prison was sold for a housing development.
When Deeming was hanged, more than 12,000 people in the street outside cheered wildly.
He had committed crimes on three continents, using at least 20 aliases. In 1887, while in Australia, Deeming was jailed for 14 days under a charge of bankruptcy.
Crimes: Ned Kelly in armour cornered by police, left, and an imaginative illustration of Jack the Ripper at work
The next year he took his family to Cape Town, South Africa, becoming known there as a fraud, and swiftly moving on to Johannesburg.
He sent his family back to England to live at Rainhill, near Liverpool, and later followed, on the way enjoying a spell in prison for a swindle at a jewellery shop in Hull.
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
While living at Hull he wooed Helen Matheson, the 21-year-old daughter of his landlady, married her, bigamously.
After he joined his wife and children at Rainhill, they mysteriously disappeared. Deeming told neighbours they were his sister and her children, who had "returned home".
He married another woman, Emily Mather, and the pair emigrated to Australia, in November, 1891. Deeming murdered Emily in Melbourne on Christmas Eve, and told neighbours that she had gone abroad and went on the run.
The owner of the house in Windsor, Melbourne, found he could not let it due to a foul smell.
Becoming suspicious, he called in the police, who found the second Mrs Deeming cemented under a fireplace, throat cut.
Within days, newspapers in Australia were connecting the killing to the Whitechapel Murders of London.
The Liverpool police were alerted and searched the house at Rainhill. They found his first wife Marie James and their four children, aged from 18 months to nine years old, under the reconcreted kitchen floor, all with their throats cut.
Deeming was caught and arrested in March, 1892, in Perth, Western Australia.
After his execution three months later, newspapers including the New York Times began publishing stories that Deeming had been sighted in Whitechapel in London's East End in 1888 and was seen purchasing knives.
Within these walls: Old Melbourne Gaol, in Victoria, where outlaw Ned Kelly and murderer Frederick Deeming were both hanged and laid to rest. It is now a museum run by the National Trust of Australia
While in prison, he had told fellow inmates that he was Jack The Ripper. But he never confessed to authorities.
Professor Ranson said: 'We are hoping to find one of Fred Deeming's relatives in Ireland, England or Scotland who will be willing to help.
'This is recent history, going back about three generations, so I am confident the distant relatives are out there.'
Relatives of Deeming, who had 11 brothers and sisters, may still live on Merseyside.
Deb Withers, a spokesman for his institute, said: 'Our British genealogist has researched the Deeming family and many of them appear to have remained in Liverpool and Birkenhead, so we're hoping anyone from the area can help us solve this mystery.
'Deeming had plenty of siblings so we think there must be someone out there, and as it is only going back a few generations it's not such a long shot.'
dailymail.co.uk
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