So Anne described how, one evening, on the spur of the moment, she wrapped the Diary in some brown paper and carrying it in a plastic bag she told Michael she was off to get a bottle of wine. But instead she went down to Tony’s house.
Audrey can understand her doing that because she agrees that Michael would never have let Billy alone.
Anne goes on:
You have to understand I was terribly depressed — we had such financial problems, I was very, very low and often thinking about leaving. But it felt like the absolute pits to do something like that. What was the alternative? I needed to feel proud of him again… He needed to gain some self respect without my help but more important, I didn’t want him pestering my Dad, as I knew he would. I was so nervous. Tony couldn’t walk very well and took so long to answer the door I nearly chickened out. I gave him the bag — said it was a book (I had read it by then) and asked him to give it to Michael — with instructions to tell him to ‘do something’ with it, I don’t think he knew who I was from Adam at first. I made him promise not to tell Michael where it came from so that he could have some self-respect.
After that everything happened much as Michael has described it. ‘I never dreamed that things would turn out the way they did. When Michael said he was going to take the Diary to London I really thought that Doreen Montgomery would send him packing,’ Anne recalls, with some regret.
Caroline remembers, all too well, the day her dad opened the Diary. When he saw what it was he rang Tony over and over again. He borrowed books from the library, read up about the Ripper and made lots of notes. Sometimes he tried to discuss the Diary with Tony but he wasn’t interested. Michael himself remembers one occasion, when he asked Tony yet again where he got it and who else knew about it Tony yelled, ‘No other fucking bugger alive.’
In January 1991, just as Michael had described, Tony fell and broke his hip. After he came home from hospital, he could no longer walk so much and eventually died in Walton Hospital the following August. Perhaps because he is no longer there to answer questions, those who insist the Diary is a forgery have added Tony Devereux to their list of suspects.
* * *
In November 1994, Paul Feldman called a ‘conference’ of all the Peterborough Maybricks, which was also attended by Brian Maybrick, Albert Johnson and me. I had to admit that I was utterly confused by the mass of genealogical evidence and dozens of photographs Paul displayed with such pride, apparently linking everyone with everyone else. However, with more research I became aware of the chaos that is Victorian birth, death and marriage certificates. So often there are extraordinary coincidences, unexpected family links and clerical errors. But perhaps Paul had, despite this, begun to unravel the hitherto unknown Maybrick web. Certainly, the descendants gathered that day were enthralled.
There seemed to be an unmistakeable Maybrick face. Albert Johnson even offered to take a blood test. Brian Maybrick too was enjoying every minute and was, by now, himself convinced of the Diary’s pedigree.
But sadness was to overshadow that gathering, for Anne Graham took a call to say that her father was dying and Paul arranged for her to rush home to Liverpool by taxi. Billy was already dead when she arrived. Even then the critics were relentless, observing that the Diary’s provenance was once more, conveniently, untraceable and implying that Anne had chosen just the right moment to break her story.
I went, with Keith, to Billy’s funeral; it was a moving and very emotional event, with a gathering back at the Legion afterwards. Billy was clearly a much liked man and dearly loved by his family. I felt sad that I never had the opportunity to meet him.
There were to be other sadnesses. For on April 9th 1996 Brian Maybrick also died — he had kept the news that he had cancer from everyone. His funeral on April 18th was a eulogy to a man whose open good-heartedness had enriched his parish and his family life. The hymn they poignantly chose to end the ceremony was by Michael Maybrick — ‘The Holy City’, sung by the BBC Welsh Choir with Aled Jones, as soloist.
* * *
Since that time we have continued to play Devil’s advocate. Well aware that Anne’s story would be treated with derision by Diaryphobes, we could not ignore any new information that might expand our understanding of the facts — even if it did not support what Anne had told us.
One such lead came, out of the blue, in the summer of 1997. Its source was impeccable — a London lawyer, Stephen Shotnes of Simons, Muirhead and Burton, who had been told the story by Tim Martin-Wright, Managing Director of A1 Security and Electrical Ltd., a large international security firm based in Liverpool. The tale he told had echoes of an earlier rumour which Paul Feldman and I had pursued, that the Diary had, in fact, been found by builders or electricians working at Battlecrease House. One version claimed that it had been removed from behind window panelling, another from under the floor boards of Maybrick’s study. Various dates had been given — 1982, 1989 and 1991. But these stories had foundered. This time it seemed different.
Knowing of publisher Robert Smith’s professional interest in the Diary, Mr Shotnes persuaded Tim Martin-Wright to meet them both in Liverpool. On their arrival he took them to his retail outlet near Bootle, which sells domestic alarm systems. There they spoke with one of his employees. He recalled that, at the end of 1991, a customer, identified as Alan Davies, an electrician working for Portus and Rhodes, told him how a colleague, doing a re-wiring job at Battlecrease House had found a biscuit tin under the floorboard. It contained a leather-bound diary and a gold ring.
The shop assistant suggested to Mr Davies that he show the Diary to Tim Martin-Wright, as he was a collector of antique books. A purchase price of £25 was mentioned. Alan Davies, however was not working in the house at the time and the Diary never surfaced. Later the shop assistant heard that it had been sold ‘in a pub in Anfield’ (This is the area of Liverpool where Michael Barrett and Tony Devereux drank at The Saddle).
Mr Martin-Wright confirmed that the above events occurred ‘a month or two’ after his shop opened in October 1991, which appeared to fit conveniently with April 1992, the month that Michael Barrett brought the Diary to London.
Armed with this information, I went with Robert Smith and Sally Evemy to see Alan and his wife — a hard-working couple with a 17-year-old son. He recounted a story by another electrician at Portus and Rhodes, Brian Rawes. At the end of one day, Mr Rawes had been picking up two other employees from Battlecrease House in the firm’s van. He recalls one of them coming to the driver’s window saying, ‘I’ve found something under the floor boards. I think it could be important.’ Mr Rawes advised him to tell his boss, Colin Rhodes, about it.
Mr Rawes has confirmed this account, but, disconcertingly, was certain (by reference to an old daily memo book) that the above events took place in June 1992. So if something was found it was not our Diary.
And there the trail went cold. The two electricians working in the house in June 1992 declined to be interviewed by me, having apparently been scared by the police investigation of the Diary’s authenticity after my book was first published in 1993.
We made a return visit to Battlecrease House in June 1997 and sat in James Maybrick’s bedroom, now Paul Dodd’s living room. It was an eerie experience.
Paul was adamant. The house was originally gaslit and converted to electricity in the 1920s. It was re-wired when his father bought it in 1946 and again in 1977 when Paul himself had gutted the place and lifted the floor boards. Had anything been hidden, he was sure that he would have found it then.
Work was done on the cellars in 1989 and in 1991 there were repairs to the roof but the workmen had no access to the house for this. Storage heaters were installed in two phases — in Maybrick’s bedroom in the late summer of 1991 and in the downstairs flat in 1993. Paul had again undertaken the initial preparation himself.
But once we started pinning down the dates, none of the people whose names we had been given appeared to have been in the right place at the right time. The key ch
aracters didn’t want to talk. We checked the sash windows and the other possible hidey holes but discovered nothing. It was all very mysterious. Something might indeed have been found at Battlecrease House, but, whatever it was, it was seemingly not our Diary and whatever it was had vanished — at least temporarily!
19
THE MAN I HAVE BECOME WAS NOT THE MAN I WAS BORN
There was a great deal of anger and frustration expressed at this time — not least by Michael Barrett himself. When the paperback version of my book appeared in October 1994, Anne’s statement was, for him, the final straw. He had lost Caroline, his claim to fame as the man who found the Diary of Jack the Ripper was destroyed, and Anne had also deprived him of his newly declared wish to be ‘the greatest forger in the world.’ So he changed tack and began to say that he ‘created’ the Diary but it was in Anne’s handwriting.
Anne has described their already crumbling relationship in those years before the Diary came to London and has said, sadly, that the idea that she and Michael could, by then, have collaborated over anything was absolute rubbish.
In January 1995, Sally, Keith and I decided we must go to Liverpool and give him the opportunity to tell us in detail exactly how he had achieved this extraordinary work that had fooled us all! He agreed that he would tell us everything. We arrived in Goldie Street accompanied (with Michael’s agreement) by a former Detective Superintendent, Kenneth Forshaw, with 32 years experience in Liverpool CID. He was to be an independent observer to what we suspected might be a tricky meeting and Michael was unaware of his identity.
We taped that five-hour interview. 45 pages (in single spacing) of Michael in varying moods, pleading with us to go off and get a bottle of Scotch (which we refused). Ken Forshaw reprimanded him for compromising his visitors! He denied that he had ever forged the Diary and swore on the Bible, on Caroline’s life and his own life that Tony Devereux gave it to him and that Anne was lying. He showed us his arm, badly lacerated and where he had severed an artery ‘accidentally’ pushing his fist through Anne’s front door. We taped everything (with his co-operation), hardly said a word and left, saddened and exhausted.
Almost immediately, Michael dictated a new statement to Alan Gray in which he said he had been intimidated and frightened by us. He also prepared a 6-page statement, in which he describes himself as an author, sworn in the presence of the ubiquitous Alan Gray at the office of D.P. Hardy and Co, solicitors in Liverpool.
This statement was very soon in general circulation and finally in 1996 appeared on the Internet in its entirety. For legal reasons I am unable to quote it in full. I have extracted the sections dealing with Michael’s alleged ‘forgery’ of the Diary.
I Michael Barrett was the author of the original Diary of Jack the Ripper and my wife Anne Barrett, hand wrote it from my typed notes and on occasions at my dictation…
About January 1990 Anne purchased a diary, a red leather back diary for £25… through a firm in the 1986 Writers and Artists Year book… when it arrived it was of no use, it was too small… At about the same time I spoke to William Graham about our idea…
At the end of January 1990 I went to the Auctioneer Outhwaite and Litherland, Fontenoy Street.
It was about 11.30 a.m… I found a photograph album which contained approximately 125 pages of photographs… to do with the 1918 war. This album was part of lot 126 which was for auction with a brass compass… it looked to me like a seaman’s compass… and I particularly noticed that the compass had no fingers.
When the bidding started I noticed another man who was interested… he was smartly dressed… I think he was a Military man. This man bid up to £45 and then I bid £50 and the other man dropped out… I was given a ticket on which was marked the item number and the price I had bid. This ticket was stamped… I gave my name as P. Williams, Allerton Street… When I got home I noticed inside the front cover the maker’s stamp mark, dated 1908/9 to remove this without trace I soaked the whole of the front cover in Linseed Oil… which took about two days to dry out. I even used heat from the gas oven to assist.
I removed the maker’s seal. I then took a Stanley knife and removed all the photographs and quite a few pages… Anne and I went to town in Liverpool and in Bold Street I bought three pens that would hold nibs… I bought 22 brass nibs… from the Medico art gallery… We then decided… to make our way to Bluecoat Chambers… and purchased a small bottle of Diamine Manuscript Ink…
‘I sat in the living room by the rear lounge window with my word processor… Anne sat with her back to me as she wrote the manuscript… All in all it took us 11 days…
During this period we were writing the Diary Tony Devereux was housebound and in fact after we completed the Diary we left it for a while… He died in May 1990.
During the time I was dictating to Anne mistakes occurred from time to time… page 6… 2nd paragraph line nine starts with an ink blot, this blot covers a mistake I made when I told Anne to write down James instead of Thomas. The mistake was covered with an ink blot.
Page 226 of the book, page 20… Turn Round Three Times and catch whom you may. This was from Punch magazine 3rd week in September 1888. The journalist was PW Wenn…
He then goes on to describe how his discs, photographs, compass, pens and ink were taken to a member of his family who destroyed them to protect him. This has been strenuously denied in a formal statement and legal action threatened.
There is little doubt in my mind I have been hoodwinked… My inexperience in the publishing game has been my downfall while all around me are making money. I have even had bills to cover expenses incurred by the author of the book, Shirley Harrison…
I give my name so that history do tell what love can do to a gentleman born, Yours truly Michael Barrett.
All this was a gift from the Gods to those who challenged the Diary. It was so convincing — on the face of it. But the facts are these.
1. The red diary was in fact purchased after the Diary had been brought to London. (Anne has the receipt.)
2. Tony Devereux died in August 1991.
3. On January 30th 1997 Doreen Montgomery received the following statement from Kevin Whay, director of Outhwaite and Litherland: ‘Having searched through our files and archives on either side of the alleged sale dates I can confirm that no such description or lot number corresponding with his statement exists. Furthermore we do not and have never conducted our sales in the manner in which he describes…’
4. The former chief chemist for Diamine ink, Alec Voller, says that the Diary ink is not Diamine.
5. The Punch cartoon is by Tenniel. The name PW Wenn does not appear.
6. The word under the blot is not ‘James’ but ‘regards’.
7. The Diary is not in Anne Barrett’s handwriting.
8. Michael Barrett and Anne Barrett between them have earned exactly the same from the book The Diary of Jack the Ripper as I have, although since their separation, by virtue of the terms of the collaboration agreement, Anne Graham has received 25% of the gross sums payable to us. But Michael consistently failed to honour his contractual share of research expenses despite receiving regular invoices.
Since that first affidavit, Michael Barrett has claimed to be a member of MI5, to have foiled an IRA attack and been awarded the Queen’s medal for gallantry, to be dying (within the next hour), to be re-married and expecting a baby, to be impotent, to have cancer and to be going to live in Russia and America. He has also inserted an advertisment in Loot magazine for illustrators to send him drawings for a children’s story which he then told entrants was to be published by Smith Gryphon. Copies of illustrations submitted then turned up in art shop windows in Southport and the originals returned ‘not accepted by the publisher.’ Smith Gryphon did not publish children’s books and had no knowledge of all this! He has also claimed to have a gun.
Interestingly, in 1997 a letter came into my possession. It had been sent from Alan Gray to Michael on October 15th 1996.
Be assured t
hat if we can possibley [sic] prove without doubt where you brought the Diary from I can almost guarantee you will make ‘money’. I have a National Newspaper ready to do business BUT we must get the evidence that will support you.
Then watch them jump because your credibility will then be 100%. Feldman is about to release a new book. The time is right to pay these terrible people back. So let’s do it.
Phone me…’
But the most effective demolition of the ‘Great Forger’ theory has been done by Michael himself. In 1992 Michael had given me all his notes, re-typed and ‘tidied up’ by Anne from his researches. They are a record of his forays to Liverpool Library before he brought the Diary to London when he was desperately trying to make sense of it all. I quote:
Check for copy of Punch around Sept.1888… nothing to date… Where was Knowsley Buildings? To date cannot find… Question. Who else other than the Ripper would have known that he was almost caught..? Answer: Not sure but if the Diary is genuine and written at that time these facts could only have been known by the Ripper.
The Diary of Jack the Ripper - The Chilling Confessions of James Maybrick Page 28