An Audience with Jack the Ripper is a two-hour show hosted by retired British Police murder squad detective Trevor Marriott.

Since 2002, He has been conducting a cold case investigation into the Whitechapel murders of 1888, which were attributed to a fearsome killer who came to be known as Jack the Ripper.

His long and protracted investigation was concluded with startling results, which have completely turned upside down many of the original theories readily accepted as fact for more than 120 years.

It was generally accepted the killer only murdered five prostitutes between August and November 1888. However, Marriott uncovered other murders outside of those dates both in London, the USA and Germany. This led to a new suspect emerging who had never been mentioned before who had been arrested for committing a Ripper-like murder in the USA.

His investigation then went on to disprove the accepted theory that the killer removed vital organs from his victims’ bodies.

Further investigative work would uncover secret Special Branch records never before made public in which four new suspects were named and the contents of which now eliminate a number of the prime suspects who have been continuously investigated over the ensuing years.

Marriott believes that all of the Whitechapel murders were not committed by the same killer and in fact Jack the Ripper may have been nothing more than a myth created by sensational journalism at the time of the murders.

“It was an interesting journey,” he said. “It soon became apparent that a lot of what had been relied upon for all those years was not reliable and as my investigation progressed new facts and new evidence emerged changing the mystery of Jack the Ripper.

“Now, more than 10 years later, I have the opportunity to present the public with the results of my long and protracted investigation along with the new evidence and new suspects.”

His one-man-show is packed with pictures from 1888, showing original crime scene photographs of the victims, the suspects, together with many other original photographs from 1888 relative to the murders.

He added: “I expect people who come to the show to go away with a totally different view on the whole mystery.”

Five victims of the Ripper?

The large number of attacks against women in the East End in this era adds uncertainty to how many victims were killed by the same person. Eleven separate murders, stretching from April 1888 to February 1891, became known collectively as the Whitechapel murders.

THE CANONICAL FIVE JACK THE RIPPER VICTIMS

Mary Ann Nichols - An East End prostitute who had her throat cut on August 31, 1888.

Annie Chapman - Found near Spitalfields with her throat cut and her intestines thrown over each shoulder.

Elizabeth Stride - The first of two murders in the early morning of Sunday, September 30, 1888.

Catherine Eddowes - Found 45 minutes after Stride, Eddowes’ throat had been severed and her abdomen ripped out.

Mary Jane Kelly - Her gruesomely mutilated body was discovered on the bed of her single room.

An Audience with Jack the Ripper is at Maidstone’s Hazlitt Arts Centre on Thursday, January 26. Tickets £12, concessions £10. Box office 01622 758611. This year, Trevor Marriott has two books coming out, Jack the Ripper – The Secret Police Files and The Evil Within – The World’s Worst Serial Killers. Details atwww.trevormarriott.co.uk.