Files with the names of four new Jack the Ripper suspects – which could help solve the 123-year-old mystery – have been ­censored by police.

In an extraordinary legal ruling, police documents relating to the Whitechapel Murders are being kept under lock and key – on the grounds releasing them could threaten national security.

The Met Police claim the files include names of long-dead ­Victorian “supergrasses” who should NEVER be made public.

They say releasing the names could lead to living relatives being attacked and make it harder to recruit new informants, wrecking counter-terrorism operations.

Thousands of pounds of ­taxpayers’ cash has been spent on legal hearings to block the release of the files.

But retired murder detective and author Trevor Marriott has launched a legal fight to force the police to release them.

“These files should be made public at once,” he said. “They are some of the most interesting records on the case I’ve come across. Some of the informants died more than 100 years ago so to ­censor the ­documents is absurd.”

The 900-page dossier holds ­unseen evidence on the 1888 ­murders of the five East London ­prostitutes, ­including intriguing details about how Special Branch became involved.

Trevor, who has written two books on the Ripper, found out about it while doing research. He applied to see it but was shown an ­edited version with names blacked out.

Det Supt Julian McKinney, head of Covert Operations at the Met, said: “An informant today, if they know in 100 years their ­identity will be given over, may not wish to co-operate with us.”

I just read an article in the New York Post where they named the likely suspect and also mentioned a witness.
It's amazing that after all these years this case is still going strong.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/books/they_don_know_jack_5p2khk1CeLm3S13Ohop3HN

Peerage, if not Royalty, was involved in 1888, or so it would seem by the government's reluctance to cough up all the documents.

I always thought of Jack the Ripper as a conjured whipping boy for the collective guilt over the brutish and short lives Victorian girls suffered on the streets by the tens of thousands.
::)