Jack the Ripper – A Love Story ( Excerpt 80 )

Jack the Ripper – A Love Story ( Excerpt 80 )

  The body was still quite warm. No death stiffening had taken place. She must have been killed most likely within the last half hour. We looked for superficial bruises and found none. No blood on the skin of the abdomen or secretion of any kind on the thighs.

No spurting of blood on the bricks or pavement around the body. No marks of blood below the middle of the body. Several buttons were found in the clotted blood after the removal of the body. There was no blood on the front of her clothes. There were no signs of a recent connexion.

When the body arrived at Golden Lane Mortuary, some of the blood was dispersed due to the removal of the body to the Mortuary. The clothes were carefully taken off the body. A piece of the deceased’s ear fell from the clothing.

I began the Post Mortem Examination at half past two on Sunday afternoon. Rigor Mortis was well marked ; body not quite cold. Green discolouration over the abdomen.

After washing the left hand carefully, a bruise the size of a sixpence, recent and red was discovered on the back of the left hand between the thumb and first finger. A few small bruises on the right shin of an older date. The hands and arms were bronzed, no bruises on the scalp, the back of the body or the elbows.

(C) Damian Grange 2018