"[2] At age 16 he ran away to sea, and thereafter he began a long career of crime, largely thieving and obtaining money under false pretenses.

Less than three months elapsed between the discovery of Mather's body in Melbourne, in March 1892, and Deeming's execution for her murder in May 1892; a remarkably short time by comparison to modern western legal standards.

[3] This was not only due to efficient police work, but also a result of the considerable international media interest Mather's murder attracted.

For example, it was an English journalist working for the Melbourne Argus who first approached Mather's mother in Rainhill and delivered the news of her daughter's murder.

Following his arrest in 1892, police investigations[5] revealed that Deeming had moved to Australia ten years earlier, chiefly working in Sydney, but was also employed by John Danks, a Melbourne importer of plumbing and gas fitting supplies.

Deeming's Melbourne employers regarded him as an excellent worker and extended him 200 pounds credit, supposedly to open a business in Rockhampton, Queensland.

[7] After his release from prison, Deeming continued to work in Sydney as a gasfitter until, in December 1887, he was again committed for trial, now on a charge of fraudulent insolvency.

"[8] Later police and newspaper research discovered Deeming had been active in Cape Town in 1888–1889, but his exact movements at this time are unclear and it appears he returned to Birkenhead at least once.

Here he passed himself off as "a retired sheep farmer" named Harry Lawson from Mount House Farm, Rockhampton, Queensland, living on 1,500 pounds a year.

He was arrested for this offence on arrival at Montevideo and extradited back to England on a charge of "obtaining goods by false pretenses" being sentenced to nine months prison.

[12] On his release from prison in July 1891, Deeming headed to the Liverpool area, settling into a hotel in the village of Rainhill, Merseyside under the name Albert Williams.

Deeming then took a lease on Dinham Villa, a house in Rainhill, supposedly on behalf of a military friend, a certain "Colonel Brookes".

[13] Shortly afterward, Deeming complained that the drains at Dinham Villa were defective, and the kitchen floor needed to be replaced.

The body hacked and mangled, the cool manner in which the cementing was carried out, the taking a house etc, the laborious obliteration of all traces of the crime – all these things suggest the malevolence and craft which can scarcely accompany the sane murderer, no matter how callous and brutal.

[17]From clues found at the vacant Andrew Street house and from information provided by local tradespeople, including Stamford and his agent, a local laundress, an ironmonger who sold Deeming cement and several carriers, investigating Victoria Police sergeants William Considine and Henry Cawsey were able to trace the recently arrived Mr. Williams to the Kaiser Wilhelm II.

At an inquest held on 8 March, it was discovered that a man answering Mr. Williams's description had auctioned a variety of household goods, possibly wedding presents, in the city in early January 1892.

Mr. Wakeley told Swanston; "I may tell you plainly, that I don't believe your stories and I am not in the habit of allowing men of your class to enter my family circle.

"[21] Once settled at Southern Cross, Deeming maintained a barrage of pleas to Rounsefell, writing on 8 February; "Don't keep me waiting dear.

[25] At about the same time Deeming was being returned to Melbourne, news of the discovery of the Rainhill murders in England arrived in Australia.

[nb 4] Following publicity surrounding the discovery of Mather's body at Windsor, investigations at Rainhill revealed the decomposing bodies of Marie Deeming and the four children; Bertha (aged 10), Mary (7), Sidney (5) and Leala (18 months) buried beneath the re-concreted floor of Dinham Villa.

Perhaps wishing to aid the defence of insanity, Deeming also claimed to have caught syphilis in London and to have received visitations from his mother's spirit, which urged his actions.

[1] As Australians struggled to comprehend the savageness of the Windsor murder, significant press speculation grew, suggesting Deeming was Jack the Ripper.

[37]Deeming's movements at many stages of his career are obscure, but it appears he may have been in England in late 1888, the time of the Whitechapel murders.

Kreitmayer's Melbourne waxworks of 1912 probably reflected widespread public opinion when it depicted in wax Deeming burying Mather, commenting that it was suspected he was "identical with Jack the Ripper".

The reason that the police officially dismissed Deeming as a suspect of the Whitechapel murders, according to Napper, is that they had believed he was either in jail at the time according to some[40][41] or that he was in South Africa according to others.