The University of Leicester scientist who invented DNA fingerprinting has said new claims about the identity of Jack the Ripper are not conclusive.
Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, the man who gave the world DNA fingerprint technique 30 years ago this week, said that new evidence highlighting Polish-born barber Aaron Kosminski as the most notorious serial killer in history needs more scrutiny.
Modern techniques were used to test DNA samples from one of the only surviving pieces of evidence from the 126-year-old case - a shawl found next to the body of Catherine Eddowes, one of the Ripper's supposed victims.
The results identified Kosminski, a 23-year-old immigrant, as the gruesome killer.
Author and Ripper enthusiast Russell Edwards has announced the revelation in a new book, Naming Jack the Ripper, after collaborating with genetic expert Dr Jari Louhelainen - who carried out the sample analysis.
The declaration has hit the headlines across the world.
But despite the huge attention, Sir Alec said there were still questions over the accuracy of the evidence.
He said: "An interesting but remarkable claim that needs to be subjected to peer review, with detailed analysis of the provenance of the shawl and the nature of the claimed DNA match with the perpetrator's descendants and its power of discrimination; no actual evidence has yet been provided."
Sir Alec added: "If I remember correctly when I visited the Black Museum at New Scotland Yard, Kosminski was long regarded as by far the most likely perpetrator."
The mysterious murders have captivated people's imaginations for the past 126 years - ever since the bloody killing spree of 1888 in London's East End.
More than 100 suspects were wrongly identified as the Ripper during the investigation - the most famous being Queen Victoria's grandson, Prince Albert Victor, the Duke of Clarence.
Jack is reported to have killed at least five women in Whitechapel's back streets; slashing their throats, removing some of their internal organs and leaving their mutilated bodies out in the open.
Kosminski, a Polish Jew, arrived in London with his family in 1881 - seven years before the grisly murders started - after fleeing his Russian-controlled homeland.
He settled in Mile End Old Town just 200-yards from where Elizabeth Stride, the Ripper's third victim, was killed.
His name was first linked to the notorious case in 1894 in Chief Inspector Donald Swanson's notes, which said an eyewitness picked him out but would not give evidence.
Kosminski was brought into Scotland Yard for questioning on at least one occasion, but was never charged.
He died in 1899, aged 53, of gangrene after being admitted to a string of lunatic asylums.
