Jack the Ripper police file made public after 136 years, heads to auction

The file contains copies of the taunting letter and postcard the notorious, but never identified, serial killer sent to police.

The identity of notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper remains an unsolved mystery, but now a police file on the infamous case has been made public after 136 years.

The killer, who became known as Jack the Ripper after writing a taunting letter to police using the moniker, savagely butchered five prostitutes in Whitechapel, east London, in 1888.

Insp. Joseph Henry Helson, who was serving in London’s Metropolitan Police at the time of the murders, maintained and kept the file.

According to Sky News, the file was passed down through four generations of the Helson family. Now it will go to auction, and it contains a number of artifacts that will likely be seen as collectible to the right bidder.

Included in the file are two photographs of Michael Ostrog, an early suspect in the case who was ruled out after his alibi showed he was in the mental asylum of a French prison when the murders happened. The photos have notes on the back listing Ostrog’s aliases, criminal record and physical appearance.

As well, the file contains the only known copy of the taunting “Saucy Jack” postcard that the killer allegedly sent to police.

Also included is a copy of the letter that was signed “Jack the Ripper” — a note sent to police bragging about his kills, which included a warning that his knife was “still nice and sharp” and promised to “clip the lady’s ears off”.

More grim is a photograph of the Ripper’s first victim, Mary Nichols, in the mortuary. Nichols was found dead on Aug. 31, 1888. The second victim, Annie Chapman, was discovered eight days later.