The police received 300 letters and postcards by people claiming to be the murderer

The police investigated many leads which started in press stories, for example John Pizer was wrong be a rested after a newspaper publicised the story that the murderer was a Jew who wore a leather apron

Newspapers were critical of the police enquiry

Before forensic science, the only way to prove someone committed a murder was to catch them in the act, or get the suspect to confess

Newspaper articles were published about the murders. These were based on guesswork and unreliable interviews with locals, which led to false leads and red herrings

Whitechapel had dark and narrow muddled maze-like streets

The police experimented by using Blood Hounds to track the murderer. The dogs performed well but the police failed to pay the owner who then refused to work further with the police.

A lack of lighting made policing the area very difficult

The press released portraits of potential suspects. They all had the features of immigrants and this led to a lot of race related crime