Historic criminal trials go online
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
LONDON, Aug 3 (AFP): Criminal trials in England dating back to the 18th century, including the infamous "Jack the Ripper" suspect, are to go online for the first time Monday, a website said.
The website said it is publishing 1.4 million documents on trials, verdicts and sentences including executions handed down to criminals in England and Wales from the late 18th through the 19th centuries.
Files include the trial of Roderick McLean who attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle with a pistol in the late 1800s, according to genealogy website Ancestry.co.uk.
Other legendary criminals include Dr Thomas Neill Cream, hanged in 1892 for poisoning several people and who allegedly confessed to being Jack the Ripper, although he was in prison at the time of some of the gruesome killings.
The website said it is publishing 1.4 million documents on trials, verdicts and sentences including executions handed down to criminals in England and Wales from the late 18th through the 19th centuries.
Files include the trial of Roderick McLean who attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle with a pistol in the late 1800s, according to genealogy website Ancestry.co.uk.
Other legendary criminals include Dr Thomas Neill Cream, hanged in 1892 for poisoning several people and who allegedly confessed to being Jack the Ripper, although he was in prison at the time of some of the gruesome killings.