The Irish Ripper (Chapter 17)

Sean always had the inclination to believe that The Ripper would be identified through his earlier rape crimes; he was still the only police officer to be a hundred percent convinced that he was the Reading Rapist.  Each night he would pore over the documents from England, hoping to see something that had been missed till then.  Occasionally Laura would do the same but it was all to no avail. 

Then one night as they lay in bed, Sean had a sudden burst of inspiration, a true eureka moment.  In his excitement, he woke Laura from her slumber so that he could tell her immediately lest he forgets it during the night.  At first, she thought there was something wrong but was soon also entranced by the idea. 

The Reading Rapist was extremely proficient at breaking into houses to carry out attacks; he must have learned it beforehand.  Perhaps, he had been a run of the mill house burglar prior to escalating to rape; this would have given him the opportunity to perfect his skills. 

But the thought that really excited Sean was that it was unlikely that he was so careful all that time ago and just maybe he left some evidence behind that could identify him.  Finally, it seemed there might be something to get excited about.  He struggled to sleep afterward that night with his mind racing from thought to thought. 

The next morning, he immediately contacted Jim, who by now was the official contact person in England.  He too was enthralled by the idea. 

“So, your theory is that like many criminals, he has evolved over time and our best bet to catch him is from a crime he committed at the very start?” 

“Sin e,” Sean replied in Irish, much to Jim’s befuddlement before confirming in English, that yes, he was correct. 

Then discussions turned to how exactly they would find his earliest crimes.  Sean inquired if they had a criminal database.  They did, but it was hard to know what the right inquiry would be.  There would literally be tens of thousands of both solved and unsolved burglaries on the system.  They would be proverbially looking for the needle in the haystack. 

After a half-hour discussing the matter back and forth, they decided that the first place to start would be to do a profile of the young Ripper.  He would have many of the same characteristics as in the profile from the FBI, but would surely be in his late teens or very early twenties back then.  Almost certainly he would have problems with authority and would perhaps have been expelled from school.  The Reading Rapist was both prolific and intense, committing all his crimes in a relatively short burst.  Perhaps, his earliest phase of criminal activity was likewise.  

Gradually, both officers began to feel that they had built up a pretty good picture of who they were looking for.  But what they were seeking would be impossible to glean from a computer, rather it needed the human touch.  Jim then said he would formally write to the head of each police station throughout England that day, hoping to jog their memories of a burglar who might fit the bill. 

Then all they could do was wait.  Each morning Sean would open his email first thing in the morning at the kitchen table on his laptop, hoping for a lead but each time he was met with run of the mill spam messages.  There was a lot riding on this now and as two weeks turned to three, he felt overcome with disappointment. 

But then just as he was about to retire home one evening, he got a message from Jim.  He had received a communication from the station in Bristol of a suspect who might just fit the bill.  In the message, Jim promised to send on a much longer message later that night. 

After writing a short reply acknowledging the exciting news Sean went straight home, hurriedly had something to eat and anxiously awaited by his laptop.  Close to midnight, it finally arrived but that did not deter Sean from reading it over and over again. 

The subject line was the “Bristol Burglar”.  It was about a prolific burglar who terrorized the city of Bristol and its environs for a period of one year before he abruptly stopping.  The houses targeted resembled those later targeted by the Reading Rapist.  The suspect was also implicated in a murder.  There were parallels and it certainly could be the same man. 

Sean now almost felt like he could reach out and touch The Ripper; that what was once so elusive was gradually coming into focus.  Jim was going to Bristol the next day.  The case of The Irish Ripper was now a high priority case for the English police too due to its international notoriety.   

Sean wished he was over there rather than waiting on the sidelines.  He wasn’t the only one and he soon found himself on a ferry ordered to follow up the lead in Bristol.  It was one of very few lines of inquiry and the Gardai wanted to be seen as being proactive. 

It had come as a bit of a shock to Sean but he was determined to grab the opportunity with both hands.  It gave him a huge sense of pride too that his superiors now trusted him with something so important and he was anxious not to let them down.  This was something he had never felt previously, even as an able-bodied officer. 

Laura dropped him off at the airport.  She was excited for him but also nervous hoping that the trip would be a success.  After a passionate kiss, as if long lost lovers they parted.  On arrival in England, Jim was there waiting for him.  Sean barely recognized him though; he and a female companion were dressed in immaculate suits as if royalty was expected.  It was very different from the first time they met, disheveled in a loud, noisy pub. 

Jim gave him a warm hug, telling him that it was great to see him again and put his bag that had been hanging on the back of the wheelchair into the car.  Her name was Elizabeth, a slight fresh-faced woman in her mid-twenties and she greeted him with a warm smile.  A swift maneuver and Sean got into the back seat of the car, while they went in front. 

Sean was surprised and somewhat embarrassed to learn on the long road trip that he was now a local celebrity especially among the police; he even felt some hero worship emanating from Elizabeth.  Jim had told everyone that would listen about his great detective from Ireland in the wheelchair. 

If only he could arouse such affection back in his own home town, he thought quietly to himself but then quickly turned the conversation to the reason he had come – The Bristol Burglar.  Jim was only all too eager to talk him through all the details but first told their companion that their current theory was that Bristol was the training ground for the Reading Rapist who would later become the Irish Ripper.  Elizabeth gasped, saying that she didn’t realize The Ripper was also on the radar. 

The Bristol Burglar operated over a period of twenty-one months.  During that period, he was responsible for one murder and a hundred and twenty-five burglaries.  Most of The Burglar’s activities involved breaking into houses, searching through and vandalizing the owner’s possessions, scattering any women’s underclothing he found, stealing coins and low-value or personal items, while often ignoring banknotes and other valuable items in plain sight. 

Sean knew that this signaled that this was no ordinary thief motivated by a desire for monetary gain, but instead he was seeking a different thrill of power over his victims.  This was the very beginning of the evolution of The Ripper. 

Jim further expanded that the MO or method of operation also mirrored his later suspected crimes albeit with much lower levels of violence – 

• scaling fences and moving through established routes such as parks, walkways, ditches, and trails. 
• attempting to pry open multiple points of entry, particularly windows. 

• leaving multiple points of escape open, especially windows as well as house, garage, and garden doors. 
• moving removed window screens onto beds or into bedrooms. 
• placing “warning items” such as dishes or bottles against doors and on door handles. 
• wearing gloves (given the absence of fingerprint evidence). 

It was only upon reaching the hotel where Sean would be spending the night that Jim with a wide smile relayed what could be the most important detail.  They had retrieved DNA from two of the crime scenes and would have the results the next evening.  Sean could feel his heart almost stop.  Finally, he – the infamous Ripper -would be within their grasp. 

Sean woke early the following morning having had a restless night.  His mind was too excited for rest with different thoughts constantly zipping in and out of his mind, and he found himself moving from side to side unable to sleep.  This could be D-Day and he might yet be returning to Dublin a hero. 

Jim was somewhat surprised that Sean was waiting for him in the lobby when he arrived but was starting to get used to the peculiarities of his Irish friend. 

“So, are you ready to see Bristol.  I thought we’d drive around a bit to try and get a better idea of the place?” he said in his loud and strong Yorkshire accent. 

He merely received a nod in return but that was enough for him to know that Sean was satisfied with the idea.  As they drove through the city, Jim explained that the city was smaller than Dublin but still quite large.  It was the suburbs they were most interested in and especially those neighborhoods that had been most ravaged by the Bristol Burglar.  It amused them somewhat that they might even be driving past where he had grown up.  Just like his later crimes, the neighborhoods targeted were filled with bungalows.  It was thought they were easier for him to do his surveillance on, he didn’t want any nasty surprises in the midst of an attack. 

As midday approached, they headed to the local police station to see if the DNA results were back.  They needn’t have bothered; the results were in but there was no match on the databases of known offenders in either the United Kingdom or Ireland. 

A sense of shock and disappointment emanated from both Sean and Jim.  This was supposed to be a moment of triumph but it felt like the man that they were after was just as elusive as ever.  Sean wondered if this was the way it would always be; that The Ripper was just too good and would never be caught. 

That night they both retired to the bar at the hotel would be staying for still three more nights.  He had worried that his stay in England would be too short, but that when he was contemplating a major breakthrough, in the case.   That seemed like little more than a pipe dream now.   

He asked Jim if he should just go home the next day but Jim urged him to stay, that he should at least see some of the sites.  Sean decided there was little harm in staying and sure he could do with a bit of a break anyway.  Jim stayed late into the night as they regaled each other with tales of previous cases that they had worked on. 

Two mornings later and Sean was really wishing he had left as he lay on the bed when he received a text message from Jim that something had happened and he would be there in thirty minutes to collect him.  Sean knew that it must be something very important so he quickly got dressed and went down to the lobby. 

Jim was there anxiously waiting for him.  His face was pale and he looked quite sickly.  For a moment, he just stood there in silence. 

“It’s The Ripper!” Jim said in a broken voice. 

“What?” Sean replied, trying to coax another few words out of him. 

“Hee’s struckk here in Bristol!” 

Sean could hardly believe what he was hearing.  The monster must have followed him he thought to himself.  The attack had occurred less than five kilometers from where he was staying.  It was probably a message for him personally.  There were two victims, both women. They were butchered during the previous night. 

Somewhat to his surprise, Jim was there to collect him and bring him to the scene.  Sean had never previously been to a murder scene but didn’t want to seem weak or disturbed in front of the Englishman so he raised no objection.  In fact, he thought, this was a great opportunity to further immerse himself in the case. 

It didn’t take long to reach the scene.  There was a mournful crowd of people surrounding the cordon that they had to push through.  Once more, it was a single-story house that had been targeted.  Sean thought he was prepared for what he was about to see, but he was wrong.  Crime scene photos don’t convey the smell of death or show you the happy family photos on the mantlepiece with the mutilated corpse a few feet away. 

Both officers could only stomach it for a few short minutes, although neither said it explicitly to the other.  It was unspoken.  Sean had seen enough though to know it was the work of The Irish Ripper, unexpectedly far from his usual stomping ground.  From the photos, it was easily ascertained that the two female victims had been in a lesbian relationship, with one being quite butch and taking on more typically masculine characteristics like short hair and wearing a workman’s clothing; the other more femme, with long blonde hair and wearing dresses. 

It appeared that The Ripper was happy to accept these gender roles judging by the macabre scene that was before them.  The femme woman took the most punishment.  As in previous murders, she had been raped and left terribly mutilated having suffered multiple stab wounds with one of her breasts removed.   

The more butch woman simply had her throat slit; her role was simply to watch horrified as her loved partner was savaged. 

Jim mentioned it would probably for the best if they left the scene before journalists showed up, which was likely to be any second now.  Sean nodded in agreement; he didn’t want his face appearing in the papers either.  The two men spent the rest of the day together discussing the implications of the latest development. 

As they chatted gloomily in the hotel bar, they both agreed that it could be no mere coincidence that The Ripper struck in England while he was there.  The Ripper knew about Sean’s trip and had given him a sick surprise present.  This meant that the killer was either a police officer in Ireland or England or one was feeding him information perhaps inadvertently.  This was a disastrous scenario.  If the media got hold of it, which was probably only a matter of time they would have a field day.  It was as if The Ripper had found a new way to taunt them.  

So, it was with a dark cloud hanging over him that Sean returned to Ireland and Laura’s warm embrace.  It appeared that the trip had only been to document a further slaying.  However, his superiors didn’t seem to share his pessimism being particularly impressed that Sean had the gumption to visit the murder scene and wondering why he had never done so in Ireland.  When he replied that he had simply never been asked, he was told that was to change from here on in and to keep a mobile phone on his person at all times.  Although it may have just been the hope that The Rippers move to England would become permanent that had lifted the mood somewhat, they wanted out from his shadow any way possible. 

Laura would never admit it, perhaps not even to herself, but she was immensely relieved on Sean’s return even if she would never admit it, not even to herself.  She wasn’t even sure why exactly and perhaps it was even nonsensical. 

It started a few weeks before Sean had even left: a feeling of being watched.  She knew that she was being silly, and thought it was perhaps a figment of her imagination, but the feeling persisted.   A feeling some of her stuff had been moved.  Her apprehension had gradually grown so bad that she had more or less moved in with Sean.  Even though he was in a wheelchair, his presence made her feel secure and safe. 

This was an embarrassing fact for someone working in the drugs branch of the force where bravery was expected as a given.  But the strange thing was that she felt fine when she was on the job.  When it was patrolling the street or charging headfirst into a drug bust with the possibility of getting a bullet there was no problem whatsoever; it was when she was in a house on her own that her fear surfaced. 

Maybe, she had just heard one too many tales of The Ripper from Sean; he was always telling her how he would leave his tools around the house prior to an attack and she constantly found herself searching everywhere for them just in case she was the next one on his list. 

So, when Sean left for a week, she made arrangements to stay with her Mum who was a bit perplexed but kept her counsel not wanting to bother her daughter.  It was a longer drive for Laura to go to and from work, but it was worth it for peace of mind.  Then news reached her of the attack in England.  At first, she could not believe what she was hearing.  She wondered what were the odds of The Ripper and Sean visiting England at exactly the same time? 

Very low, she thought to her herself and her mind turned back to when she was investigating Sean and the murder of Billy.  The Ripper must be keeping a close eye on Sean.  Her heart swelled with terror but mostly for Sean’s safety, as she was now deeply in love with him. 

Her fears were compounded when Sean rang her and told her excitedly that he had been given the opportunity to visit the latest murder scene telling her all the grizzly details.  She tried her best to sound no more or less interested than normal so as not to show her distress or give him an idea of her concerns.  That could wait for some other time, she just told him that she couldn’t wait for his return.  But also, so she could prepare for any future attack. 

So, it was with a warm smile and a loving kiss that she greeted him as he disembarked the ferry.  His disheveled appearance and obvious hangover were inconsequential.