When the murder of Mary Ann Nichols was initially linked to this series, it increased both press and public interest into the criminal activity and general living conditions of the inhabitants of the East End of London.

The ceremony was conducted on 16 January 1864 at Saint Bride's Parish Church in the City of London and was witnessed by two individuals named Seth George Havelly and Sarah Good.

[9][10] On 6 September 1880, the couple moved into their own home at 6 D-Block, Peabody Buildings, Stamford Street, Blackfriars Road, paying a weekly rent of 5s.

[12][n 1] Over the following years, Nichols amassed a lengthy police record, although all of her arrests were for minor offences such as drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and prostitution.

[16] Legally required to support his estranged wife, William Nichols initially paid her a weekly allowance of five shillings until the spring of 1882, when he received word that she was working as a prostitute.

[13] Upon hearing this news, he ceased making these payments, causing Nichols to send summons via the Lambeth Union requesting the continuance of this weekly allowance.

As he was not legally required to support his wife if she was earning money through illicit means, Nichols no longer received any maintenance payments from her husband.

Shortly after taking this employment, Nichols is known to have written a letter to her father describing her general contentment with the position, stating: "I just write to say you will be glad to know that I am settled in my new place, and going on all right up to now.

[20] By the summer of 1888, Nichols resided in a common lodging-house at 18 Thrawl Street, Spitalfields, where she shared a bed with an elderly woman named Emily "Nelly" Holland.

[30] She lay on her back with her eyes open, her legs straight, her skirt raised above her knees[32] and her left hand touching the gate of the stable entrance.

[n 3] Another passing cart driver on his way to work, Robert Paul, approached the location and observed Cross standing in the road, staring at her body.

Shortly before Mizen reached Buck's Row, PC John Neil approached the street from the opposite direction on his beat, illuminating Nichols's body with his lantern.

By flashing this lantern,[35] Neil attracted the attention of PC John Thain, as his beat passed the entrance to Buck's Row, shouting: "Here's a woman with her throat cut.

Among them were three horse slaughterers from a neighbouring knacker's yard in Winthrop Street named Harry Tomkins, James Mumford and Charles Britten.

All three were interrogated, with Tomkins and Britten admitting to having left their workplace at 12:20 a.m. for approximately thirty minutes, possibly for a drink at the nearby Roebuck public house.

[41] All police officers patrolling along or near Buck's Row in the early hours of 31 August also reported hearing and seeing nothing suspicious before the discovery of Nichols's body.

[44] Upon further examination of Nichols's body, Dr Llewellyn discovered that both sides of her face had been bruised by either a fist or the pressure of a thumb before her throat wounds had been inflicted from left to right.

Several incisions had also been inflicted across her abdomen, causing her bowels to protrude through the wounds,[47] and three or four similar cuts ran down the right side of her body.

Llewellyn estimated the injuries would have taken four to five minutes to complete, and also expressed his surprise at the small amount of blood at the crime scene, "about enough to fill two large wine glasses, or half a pint at the outside".

"[11] The official inquest into Nichols's death was opened at the Working Lads' Institute on Whitechapel Road on Saturday, 1 September.

[59][n 8] The first day of the inquest saw the jury duly sworn before being taken by the coroner's assistant to view Nichols's body at the mortuary in Pavilion Yard before reconvening at the Working Lads' Institute.

Describing the crime scene and his summoning of assistance, Neil stated: "Deceased was lying lengthways along the street, her left hand touching the gate.

In response to questioning from the coroner, Neil conceded Whitechapel Road was "fairly busy" even at the time of his discovery of Nichols's body, and that her murderer could have escaped in that direction.

[n 10] Spratling testified to having first heard of the murder at 4:30 a.m., by which time Nichols's body had been transferred to the mortuary, and confirmed that only PC Neil's beat required him to walk through Buck's Row.

[67] Questioned as to why neither man had noted the wounds to Nichols's throat, Cross stated Buck's Row was poorly illuminated.

Mary Ann Monk then testified to having observed Nichols entering a pub in New Kent Road at approximately 7:00 p.m. on the evening prior to her murder.

Eight witnesses testified on this date, including Mrs Emma Green, a widow who lived with her three children in the cottage immediately alongside the stable entrance where Nichols's body was found.

[70] Two of the final witnesses to testify on 17 September were the keeper of the Old Montague Street Mortuary, Robert Mann, and an inmate of the Whitechapel Workhouse named James Hatfield.

All four victims were women of middle age, all were married, and had lived apart from their husbands in consequence of intemperate habits, and were at the time of their death leading an irregular life.

[84] Suspicions a serial killer may be at large in the East End led to the secondment of Detective Inspectors Frederick Abberline, Henry Moore and Walter Andrews from the Central Office at Scotland Yard.