There's a new Jack the Ripper

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A.� Yes. Or, rather, suspicions for the Victorian killings have fallen on a new suspect.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� Who

A.� The Impressionist artist Walter Richard Sickert, who 20 years after the crimes painted a series of gruesome pictures of a murdered prostitute. Sickert, who was born in 1860 and died in 1942, was an apprentice to Whistler and worked with Degas and is regarded as a key link between British art and the growth of Impressionism. The trilby-ed gent on our home page comes from one of Sickert's pictures. (Click here for a separate feature about Sickert's work)

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Q.� So who has exposed him

A.� The American crime writer Patricia Cornwell, whose Kay Scarpetta series of novels, such as�Body of Evidence,�deal with grisly killings and mutilations. Cornwell made the revelation on the ABC television show Primetime. She said: 'I am 100 per cent certain this case is now closed. Sickert led a horrifying double life, painting by day and killing by night.'

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Q.� How did she get interested in this old fog-bound London tale

A.� It happened only two years ago, when John Grieve, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, took her on a walking tour of the murder sites. Cornwell felt a terrible sadness for the murdered women and the sad lives they had led.

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Q.� Then what did she do

A.� Cornwell said a series of clues and her knowledge of forensic science and the mind of serial killers had led her to Sickert, whose name has in the past been placed on he fringe of suspicion by other Ripperologists. He was 28 when the killings started, in 1888, an age that Cornwell said was typical for serial killers to start. She put together a team of forensic experts, DNA specialists and archaeological researcher. Then she bought 32 Sickert paintings, his desk, painting table and other personal items.

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Q.� Why For clues

A.� Yes - she then began tearing them apart, looking for DNA that she could compare with DNA taken from eight letters written by the Ripper to London newspapers. 'We took paintings apart. These experts were freaked out of their minds, they're taking apart a $70,000 painting and saying "Oh my God, I don't want to do this",' said Cornwell. In all, her inquiry cost her �2.5 million. And ruined some decent paintings.

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Q.� Did she find any clues

A.� 'We processed the painting table for fingerprints or blood but found nothing,' she said. But then came a breakthrough. She managed to get hold of some of Sickert's stationery and compared it to that used by the Ripper for his letters. They were the same, with distinctive watermarks and edgings. 'After that, I had no doubts,' said Cornwell. 'This is so serious to me. I am staking my reputation on it.'

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Q.� Whom did the Ripper kill

A.� Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catharine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly. They all died in the Whitechapel area of east London between 31 August and 9 November, 1888. All died horribly - stabbed and mutilated. In some cases, body parts were taken away.

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Q.� Previous suspects

A.� Plenty. A long list of suspects has been compiled over the decades. It includes poet Francis Thompson, abortionist Dr Thomas Neill Cream, failed barrister Montague John Druitt and, most absurdly, the Alice in Wonderland writer Lewis Carroll.

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Q.� Who's your suspect

A.� Sir William Withey Gull, surgeon to the Queen.

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Q.� Why

A.� You can read compelling reasons in many websites. My reasons are personal. He was an ancestor. So just watch it.

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Steve Cunningham