Neil R. A. Bell

Few things are more evocative of Victorian Britain than its criminals; they are, together with railways, gas lamps and swirling fog, vital ingredients in any Victorian melodrama. The truth, however, was often stranger, more thrilling and more horrifying than fiction. In this book, four eminent crime historians reveal the realities of this aspect of Victorian life, illuminating not just the criminals and their victims, but also the policemen, forensic scientists and others who rubbed shoulders with the nineteenth-century underworld. Notorious crimes – the Road Hill Murder, the Balham Mystery and Jack the Ripper – stand alongside long-forgotten, neglected cases; the most shocking and terrifying cases appear next to everyday horrors, some stunning and some merely sad. This unique work of reference deserves a place on every true crime reader’s bookshelf.

During the autumn of 1888 a serial killer stalked, brutally murdering his way through the East End of London. Some called him the ‘Whitechapel Monster’, while locals referred to him as ‘Leather Apron’, but to the world he was known as Jack the Ripper. The responsibility to capture this ‘murderous fiend’ fell upon the men of London’s Metropolitan and City police forces. Capturing Jack the Ripper investigates the working lives of these men, and what it took to become one of Queen Victoria’s police constables, from recruitment to training to life as a bobby. Join the police as they go out into the dank, crime-infested, gaslit abyss known as Whitechapel and try to capture Jack the Ripper.

Howard Vincent's Police Code, 1889 is a republishing of the famous guide for Metropolitan Police of the Victorian era, with an extensive introduction by Neil Bell and Adam Wood. The Police Code was compiled by Howard Vincent, Director of the CID, and first published in 1881. It was an invaluable resource to Metropolitan Police officers and was updated regularly over the next 50 years. The version being reprinted is for 1889, written in 1888 and in use by officers at the time of the Whitechapel murders. Over 200 pages, Howard Vincent carefully described in simple terms the legality of more than 900 incidents which might occur in the daily life of a police officer, from baby farming and wandering lunatics to illegal burials and the identification of prisoners. Originally, a share of proceeds from sales were donated to the Metropolitan and City Police Orphanage, and we are proud to announce that we will continue this tradition by donating an equal share of profits to the Metropolitan and City Police Orphans Fund - every copy sold therefore contributes to the Orphans Fund.

During the autumn of 1888 a serial killer stalked, brutally murdering his way through the East End of London. Some called him the ‘Whitechapel Monster’, while locals referred to him as ‘Leather Apron’, but to the world he was known as Jack the Ripper. The responsibility to capture this ‘murderous fiend’ fell upon the men of London’s Metropolitan and City police forces. Capturing Jack the Ripper investigates the working lives of these men, and what it took to become one of Queen Victoria’s police constables, from recruitment to training to life as a bobby. This book provides an insight into police life, as well as an in-depth view of the investigation at the height of the Ripper murders. It provides a rare look at the men who protected the streets, who faced very real dangers every night, who often suffered severe physical injury and who sometimes died; men who faced life in the raw in one of the worst parts of London, and who were the first on the scene after a killer had struck. Join the police as they go out into the dank, crime-infested, gaslit abyss known as Whitechapel and try to capture Jack the Ripper.