He was young, handsome, highly educated in the best English schools, a respected professional and a first-class amateur athlete. He was also a serial killer, the Victorian equivalent of the modern-day Ted Bundy. His name was Montague Druitt--also known as "Jack the Ripper."

His handiwork included the slaughter of at least five women of ill repute in the East End of London--an urban hell where women sold themselves for a stale crust of bread. His likely motivation for the location of his murders was to call attention to the atrocious conditions in which East Enders lived, just blocks from upper-class London's wealth and opulence.

This book, compiled from years of meticulous research, presents the thinking behind the murders, the man behind the moniker, and the circumstances behind his demise. In The Escape of Jack the Ripper, readers will learn:

• How a blood-stained Druitt was arrested yet bluffed his way to freedom by pretending to be a medical student helping the poor
• How Druitt confessed to his cousin, an Anglican priest
• How Druitt's family placed him in a private, expensive asylum in France, only for him to flee when a nurse blew the whistle
• How Druitt's identity was concealed by his well-connected friends and family, thus hatching the mystery of Jack the Ripper

This fascinating story is revealed fully for the first time with many never-before-published photographs, including the newly discovered, last-known image of Druitt. The serial killer of 1888 was not poor, not foreign, not unknown. He was M.J. Druitt--the best of Britain.