True Crime England

When one hears the term "Victorian", many images come to mind. For some, the term conjures up visions of lace and gloves and delicate fans. Others think of tight corsets and even tighter morals. Others, swayed perhaps by one too many British costume dramas, envision gentle elegance and long lost beauty. Naturally, few people think of multiple dead bodies cast about in the streets or dark bedrooms.

There have been a countless number of serial killers throughout history, and certainly more prolific ones, but the timing, circumstances, and unsolved nature of the case continue to make Jack the Ripper the most famous serial killer in history. The murders came at a time when media coverage could be both more acute and more widespread, and it allowed the public a closer look into how police agencies operated at the time, exposing both their strengths and shortcomings.

When one hears the term "Victorian," many images come to mind. For some, the term conjures up visions of lace and gloves and delicate fans. Others think of tight corsets and even tighter morals. Others, swayed perhaps by one too many British costume dramas, envision gentle elegance and long lost beauty. Naturally, few people think of multiple dead bodies cast about in the streets or dark bedrooms, most mutilated to a shocking degree.

In today’s world where meeting people for sex can happen with a simple click on your phone, a new type of gay sex called Party N Play or Chemsex has become all the rage. Several young gay men were being found dead, appearing to have overdosed in a city church yard in east London. Soon a popular 41-year-old, Stephen Port, who had appeared on Celebrity Chef UK, would be arrested and charged with four of the young men’s murders by overdosing them with GBH, the date-rape drug.

The bright lights and city bustle of East London make it hard to imagine that only a century ago, the inhabitants were gripped by terror - the infamous Whitechapel Murders - or reign of terror of Jack the Ripper...Step back in time to the 1880’s where the scene was a maze of dark, foggy alleyways and narrow cobbled streets lit only by a few flickering gas lights.