Candidate: Coordinator:

Borcos Paul Cristian Prof. Roja Alessandra

2014

Foreword A serial killer is a person who murders

usually three or more people over a period of more than 30 days with a "cooling off" period between each murder, whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. The murders may have been attempted or completed in a similar fashion and the victims may have had something in common, for example occupation, race, appearance, gender, or age group.

Jack the Ripper is a pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer

active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of London, England, in late 1888. The name originated in a letter sent to the London Central News Agency by someone claiming to be the murderer.

James Maybrick, a wealthy cotton merchant thought by some to be Jack the Ripper

Background In the mid-19th century, England experienced

a rapid influx of mainly Irish immigrants, who swelled the populations of both the largely poor English countryside and England's major cities. From 1882, Jewish refugees escaping the pogroms in Tsarist Russia and eastern Europe added to the overcrowding and the already worsening work and housing conditions. London, especially the East End and the civil parish of Whitechapel, became increasingly overcrowded, resulting in the development of a massive economic underclass.

Jack the Ripper features in hundreds of works of fiction and non-fiction and works which straddle the boundaries between both fact and fiction, shading into legend. These latter include the Ripper letters, a purported Diary of the Ripper and specimens of poetry alleged to be from the Ripper's own hand.

Harold Frederick "Fred" Shipman (14 January 1946 – 13 January 2004) was a British general practitioner and convicted serial killer. He is one of the most prolific known serial killers in history with 218 murders being positively ascribed to him, though the real number may be higher.

Harold Shipman

Background As a young child Shipman was forced by his parents

to go on regular family boating trips. Some psychologists suggest that it is due to this, possibly in combination with previously latent psychological issues, that throughout his life a regular boating theme can be seen, either through scrap books kept by Shipman or by his growing boat collection. In one of the more controversial murders committed by Shipman, that of Elizabeth Battersby, a small plastic boat was later found to have been surgically placed in her large intestine. Shipman's love of boats has been widely documented, most prominently after his suicide.

Shipman's trial, presided over by Mr Justice Forbes, began on 5 October 1999. Shipman was prosecuted for the murders of Marie West, Irene Turner, Lizzie Adams, Jean Lilley, Ivy Lomas, Muriel Grimshaw, Marie Quinn, Kathleen Wagstaff, Bianka Pomfret, Norah Nuttall, Pamela Hillier, Maureen Ward, Winifred Mellor, Joan Melia, and Kathleen Grundy. All of these women died between 1995 and 1998.

Shipman was found hanged in his cell at Wakefield Prison at 6:20am on 13 January 2004, on the eve of his 58th birthday, and was pronounced dead at 8:10 am. A Prison Service statement indicated that Shipman had hanged himself from the window bars of his cell using bed sheets. Some British tabloids expressed joy at his suicide and encouraged other serial killers to follow his example; The Sun ran a celebratory front page headline, "Ship Ship hooray!"

The first interesting point in my opinion is Jack the Ripper`s choice of victims. Why are they all women and of the same age? Why Mary Jane Kelly’s murder is so different and so young than the other? All these questions have different answers but for me, the murder of Mary Jane Kelly is different simply because Jack the Ripper wanted to mark forever his murders.

Harold Shipman was not ruthless in my opinion. His mother was frequently visited by the GP and given morphine to put her out of her pain when Harold was young. I believe a part of him was trying to 'help' these old people, stopping their pain.