The suggestion that Lechmere might actually be the
Whitechapel Murderer was first raised by Derek Osborne in 2000 in an issue of the magazine
Ripperana. The following year saw the possibility further explored in an article by John Carey, while Osborne went on to examine information which suggested that the man who gave his name as 'Cross' at the inquest was in fact a man legally known as Lechmere. Lechmere's possible guilt was further discussed by John Carey in 2002; by Osborne in 2007, by Michael Connor in four issues of
The Ripperologist between 2006 and 2008. and by Bob Mills in
The Ripperologist 2021. Mainstream awareness of Lechmere grew in 2014 when journalist Christer Holmgren and criminologist Gareth Norris explored the case against him in the 2014
Channel Five documentary
Jack the Ripper: The Missing Evidence. In 2021, Holmgren produced a book in which he accuses Lechmere of committing the Whitechapel Murders, as well as the series of killings known as the
Thames Torso Murders. The theory suggests that Lechmere may have murdered Nichols and begun mutilating her body when he suddenly heard the sound of Paul's footsteps; he then rapidly pulled down her clothing to cover up her wounds and portrayed himself as the discoverer of the body. However, both Lechmere and Paul testified that they were together and tried to pull down the clothing. As Paul and Lechmere were both late for work they continued to walk intending to notify the next PC they found. PC Mizen was reported as saying that Lechmere told him, "You are wanted in Buck's row by a policeman; a woman is lying there." A 2014 TV documentary claimed that Lechmere did not appear at the inquest until after Paul had been quoted in the press to the effect that another man had been present. However, Lechmere appeared at the second day of the inquest whereas Paul didn't appear until two weeks later. At the inquest, Lechmere gave his name as Charles Allen Cross, using the surname of his police constable stepfather; later investigators found that no-one named Cross was listed in the census records for the address he supplied, meaning that his true identity was a mystery for well over a century. He did give his address and place of employment to the inquest. Given this data, Holmgren argues Lechmere is the most plausible suspect for the Ripper murders. Lechmere's logical shortest routes to work—one passing down Hanbury Street, the other down Old Montague Street—would have Lechmere pass nearby streets around the same times as
Martha Tabram, Polly Nichols, and arguably
Annie Chapman were murdered. The murders of
Elizabeth Stride and
Catherine Eddowes on the same night (the so-called "Double Event") took place further south—and in the small hours of a Sunday, likely the only day Lechmere would not have been travelling from home to work. Stride was killed in proximity to Lechmere's mother's house and in the area he grew up in; the locality in which Eddowes was murdered would have been well known to him, as it was on the logical route to Broad Street from at least one of his earlier addresses. However, Holmgren fails to state that the geographical profiling applied to the Jack the Ripper case by
Kim Rossmo puts the likely abode of the killer as in the area of Thrawl Street and Flower and Dean Street, which is nowhere near Lechmere's home in Doveton Street.
Mary Jane Kelly was murdered near the northernmost route to his work, and the time frame in which she is estimated to have been killed is reconcilable with his presumed journey, although the day she was killed was a holiday and he may have had the day off work. == Later life ==