Sir melville macnaghten biography books

British police commissioner (–)

Sir Melville Leslie MacnaghtenCB KPM (16 June , Woodford, London −12 May ) was Assistant Commissioner (Crime) of the London Metropolitan Police from to A highly regarded and famously affable figure of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras he played major investigative roles in cases that led to the establishment and acceptance of fingerprint identification.

He was also a major player in the pursuit and capture of Dr. Crippen, and of the exoneration of a wrongly convicted man, Adolph Beck, which helped lead to the creation of the Court of Criminal Appeal in

When he prematurely retired in due to illness, Macnaghten claimed to journalists that he knew the exact identity of Jack the Ripper, the nickname of the unknown serial killer of poor prostitutes in London's impoverished East End during the late Victorian era.

The police chief called the killer "that remarkable man",^[1] but refused to name him or divulge