M. J. Trow is a full-time teacher of history who has been doubling as a crime writer for seventeen years.

For more than a century, the identity of the Whitechapel murderer known to us as Jack the Ripper has both eluded us and spawned a veritable industry of speculation. Trow's latest book, Jack the Ripper: Quest for a Killer, profiles a previously unknown suspect, provides a new motive for the killings and proves that the Ripper killed seven women not five. This book will change the course of Jack the Ripper history forever.

It's been over 120 years since the murders but the world is a fascinated as ever by Jack the Ripper - what do you think it is it about the case that fascinates people so much?
In essence, what fascinates about Jack is that he was never caught. Add into the mix the mystique of gas-lit streets, vice and what is to us now an alien underworld and you have the ingredients for an eternal classic.

How long have you been interested in Jack the Ripper?
Forty years. I wrote a general book on Jack in 1998 before concentrating much more recently on a new suspect.

What's the most ridiculous motive or murder suspect suggestion you've heard?
Many of them are pretty silly, and would not even be acceptable in crime fiction but I suppose the silliest is the Mad Russian Agent (usually given a name like Pedachenko). The motive is that the Tsar's government sent their most dangerous criminal lunatic to London to embarass the British police because Britain had taken in a number of Russian Jews who were on the Russian government's 'most wanted' list.

Do you get frustrated when you see innacurate depictions of Jack the Ripper in movies like 'From Hell'?
From Hell is one of the better Ripper movies, with all sorts of nods to historical accuracy (thanks I suspect to advisers Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner). However, the basic storyline clings to the nonsense of the Highest in the Land and balding Dorsetman Fred Abberline is played by hirsute 'Cockney' Johnny Depp. This is a great shame as a considerable amount of talent and effort, not to mention money must have gone into the production. Other films have been much wider of the mark with lots of dry ice to simulate fog, gorgeous young victims in low cut dresses and of course the inevitable murderer in top hat and cape. PS - if there are any film directors out there interested in telling the real story, I'd be delighted to write the screenplay!

Writing this book has obviously been a massive project for you. How long has it taken you to put everything together?
I spent three years putting together the basics of another book on Jack and about one year on my suspect, who became apparent during my research.

Do you think that if Jack the Ripper was operating today, we'd catch him?
Yes - first, we have CCTV all over Whitechapel (and everywhere else); second, DNA forensics make it almost impossible not to leave vital clues at a crime scene; third, police forces are now well versed in a serial killer's MO and to a lesser extent, geographical profiling.

We're always hearing about violence in London, and a big rise in knife crime. How do you think the streets of London in 2009 compare with those of 1888?
Knife crime in London is a cause celebre of the media today as 'Orrible Murder was in Whitechapel in 1888. The crucial difference is that knives were carried by older men in the nineteenth century, not teenagers and of course the death sentence may have provided some sort of deterrent in the case of murder. Recent research that I have carried out in the Isle of Wight where I live prove that a 14th century inhabitant of a very small town was 200 times more likely to be stabbed to death than an inhabitant of London today.

Jack the Ripper has almost legendary status all over the world - how much do you think it's helped the economy of London's East End (for instance, through tourism?)
Jack has no doubt helped the East End economy via the Ripper Tours, which are enormously popular and successful. I can't help thinking though that the only real beneficiaries of this are the pubs! It would be nice to have a permanent museum in the East End attributed to this case.

Could Jack the Ripper have been a woman do you think?
No. Crimes of this type - close up and personal - are always committed by men. The only woman I can think of who used a blade in this frenzied uncontrolled way was Lizzie Borden, killing her parents with an axe in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1892 - and she of course was acquitted. The theory of a bungling or deranged midwife does not hold water.

Is there any other killer in history who's ever come close to matching the celebrity of Jack the Ripper?
There are many killers with a higher body count than Jack - Henry Lee Lucas, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Harold Shipman etc, but because we know who they were, they do not fascinate us as Jack does. Others in history like the child killer Gilles de Raid or the vicious Vlad the Impaler are 'worse' but their crimes are very different and we cannot call them serial killers in the same way as Jack.

Do you think we'll ever be able to say for sure exactly who Jack the Ripper really was?
No. I believe my suspect must rank highly in terms of plausibility, but any evidence that would have convicted him was overlooked in 1888 and short of the discovery of a one hundred percent genuine confession, I think the case will remain unsolved.

Why do you think the murders stopped?
I believe that my suspect became too ill to continue with his killing spree. This explains why the mutilations on the body of Alice McKenzie were less than on previous victims. To say any more would give the game away!