Laid Bare

Between 1959 and 1965, eight murders were carried out in and around west London. The victims, all of whom were prostitutes, were asphyxiated. The murders were linked: the last six were all carried out in the space of twelve months. The press dubbed the murderer 'Jack the Stripper' on account of the fact that the victims were all stripped naked. The legendary Scotland Yard investigator Detective Chief Superintendent John Du Rose was brought in to orchestrate the inquiry. Du Rose flooded the night-time capital with police officers in plain clothes, and women police officers dressed as prostitutes to carry out dangerous decoy patrols. Of the 1,7000 potential suspects interviewed, the number was whittled down to twenty-six, and eventually to one. But before Du Rose could interview him, the mean committed suicide and the case was closed down. Was this man 'Jack the Stripper'? Dick Kirby, a former Flying Squad detective, has used his vast experience and contacts at Scotland Yard to re-examine the case, more commonly known as 'The Nude Murders', fifty years on.