One of the world's top-selling crime writers claims to have uncovered the identity of Jack the Ripper: and he was a macabre artist.
Author Patricia Cornwell claims the man behind the world's most intriguing and unsolved serial killer case was Walter Sickert, an artist who featured sex and sleaze in his works.
The author believes Sickert incriminated himself by using incredibly rare paper to write letters taunting police investigating the five murders of prostitutes in the 1880s.
Cornwell, 60, has previously fingered Sickert as the killer in a controversial 2002 book.
She now says that fresh evidence has confirmed her belief, saying Sickert's guilt lies in the paper he used for the letters.
She claims scientific analysis links the paper used by Sickert to the violent, mocking letters the Ripper sent to police during the killing spree in Whitechapel, London.
Three Sickert letters and two ones from Ripper had come from a paper run of just 24 sheets, The Sunday Times reported.
Cornwell also claims the artist may be responsible for as many as 20 people, not just the five prostitutes linked to the Ripper.
Sickert was a painter and printmaker who influenced the distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century.
Newshub.
