Between 1888 and 1891, eleven women were murdered in Whitechapel. Five of the murders were consecutive and believed by the police to be the work of one person. Without any investigation at all, what can we assume about Jack? The accepted traits of a psychopath, perhaps; a knowledge of Whitechapel. But what can we say about motive? Author Ernest Coleman has an answer. One stumbling block has always been the motive; many have assumed that the killings must have sexually motivated, for which there is absolutely no evidence. What if they were not?

For those with an intimate knowledge of the Bible, the year 1888 was a very special one. '1’ could only refer to God himself. ‘888’, via the Greek in which the New Testament was originally written, meant ‘Christ, Resurrection, and the Second Coming.’ Adding 1+8+8+8 equalled 25, the adding of 2+5 created ‘7’ – a number meaning ‘Perfection’. Could we therefore be searching for someone religiously motivated, someone with a hatred of prostitutes? Consider the case of Mary Ann Nichols, her strangulation with a silk handkerchief echoes the practice of the Indian ‘Thugees’ (the source of the English word ‘thug’). Their method of attacking and killing their victims was well-known throughout India Her cut throat and the deep cuts and stabs on her abdomen echo the masonic oaths and signs founded in English Freemason’s ‘Traditional History’, which tells the story of the chief builder of Solomon’s Temple who died bravely rather than expose the secrets of the builders. The Thugees would stab the eyes of their victims, as were the eyes of victim Mary Eddowes. So an Indian connection? The author has found a man who fits all these indications, and more.

E. C. Coleman served in the Royal Navy for 36 years, which included time on an aircraft carrier, a submarine, and Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory. During that time he mounted four Arctic expeditions in search of evidence from the 1845 Sir John Franklin Expedition. He has written many books on naval, polar, medieval and Victorian subjects and contributed the foreword to two volumes of Captain Scott's diaries. He lives in Lincolnshire.