Jack the Ripper Suspect – Robert Stephenson

Stephenson was a journalist and writer interested in the occult and black magic. He admitted himself as a patient at the London Hospital in Whitechapel shortly before the murders started, and left shortly after they ceased.

He authored a newspaper article, which claimed that black magic was the motive for the killings and alleged that the Ripper was a Frenchman.

Stephenson’s strange manner and interest in the crimes resulted in an amateur detective reporting him to Scotland Yard on Christmas Eve, 1888. Two days later Stephenson reported his own suspect, a Dr Morgan Davies of the London Hospital.

In their books on the case, authors Melvin Harris and Ivor Edwards both argued that Stephenson was a leading suspect, but the police do not appear to have treated either him or Dr Davies as serious suspects.

There are several problems with Stephenson’s candidacy as Jack the Ripper.

First of all, Stephenson would have had to leave the hospital five times, brutally murdering five women, then returning in the early morning covered in blood, without arousing suspicion.

Secondly, Stephenson was not known to be violent, and lived until 1916, almost thirty years after the last canonical Ripper murder. Is it likely that a serial killer who butchers women would suddenly stop and live for another thirty years without murdering?

Thirdly, Stephenson didn’t match any of the known witness statements. Stephenson was 5ft 11in tall, whereas most of the witnesses reported someone several inches shorter than that, and between 25 and 40 years of age, whilst Stephenson was 47 in 1888.

Finally, London Hospital night-shift rosters and practices indicate that D’Onston was not able to leave the hospital on the nights of the murders.

Conclusion: It is highly unlikely that Robert D’Onston Stephenson was Jack the Ripper.