William Henry Bury was good with a knife, in more ways than one. Several women of the East End section of London were given a first hand demonstration of his preferred uses of a knife. Unfortunately, his wife was the one person to find out just how refined his skills were.

Born on May 25, 1859 in Stourbridge, Workestershire (in England), William Henry Bury's childhood remains mostly shrouded in mystery. Not much is known about his family life except that his father was a hard-working fishmonger who had little time for his son. Not much is known about Mrs. Bury either. What is known is that William Henry Bury arrived in the East End of London in November of 1887. There are records available at Scotland Yard revealing that prior to Bury's move to London he had worked as a horse butcher. For reasons unknown, Bury did not decide to continue his work as a butcher in the numerous slaughterhouses in the East End, but instead worked as a sawdust collector for a James Martin. He took lodgings with Martin and his wife, who ran a brothel on Quickett Street. Eventually he met his future wife (and victim) 32 year old Ellen Elliot. Ellen was an employee at the brothel and fell head over heels in love with the underachieving Bury. They married shortly after meeting and set up their own lodgings with money that had been inherited by Ellen through an aunt's death. Bury, a drunkard, thief, and renowned pervert, took great interest in his wife's money, spending most of it on alcohol and whores.

Eventually, Bury's drinking and hatred for women became uncontrollable. Prostitutes were the only women he could relate to due to the fact that their self-esteem was as low as his own. In February of 1888, Bury's violence erupted when he attacked a 38 year old woman named Annie Millwood in Spitalfields. He used his trusty knife to slash the woman's legs and genitals. She survived. So did Ada Wilson, an elderly seamstress attacked in her home on the night of March 28th. Bury demanded money from her (intending to spend it on the usual combo of drink and whores) and stabbed her twice in the throat for no apparent reason. On the night of April 7th, Bury was attempted to cut the throat of his wife, but she fought him off. Ellen had found out that Bury slept with his knife under his pillow.

At some point Bury became aware that he had contracted syphillis from one his many sexual encounters with the whores of the East End and had preceded to infect his wife. The fact that he had syphillis contributes to what would happen in the months to follow.

On December 20, 1888, Bury graduated to murder. In the early morning hours he cornered a young woman named Rose Mylett and attacked her in a violent rage. He strangled her slowly and dumped her body in Clarke's Yard, a short walk from his home. He had not brought his knife for the job. He had however, achieved a bizarre sexual satisfaction from strangling Rose, as do most, if not all serial killers.

In January of 1889, the Burys relocated to the town of Dundee. Bury had lied to hi wife about a work that he supposedly had in Dundee. The real reason for leaving London was perhaps tp escape of the heat that was being for brought on him for the murder and two previous attempted murders.

On February 5, 1889, Bury attacked Ellen in the basement of their flat in Dundee and strangled her with a piece of rope. Lying on her back, he used his knife to slice open her abdomen and proceded to rip out her intestines. He then stuffed her body in a trunk and kept it hidden in the basement. From this point he plotted the best way to dispose of Ellen's mutilated corpse. Bury could not come with a brilliant plan and decided to go the police and report that his wife had been murdered by an assailant while in their home. The police searched the flat and found the remains of Ellen Bury. They also didn't buy Bury's story. He was arrested by the police and charged with the murder of his wife.

On April 24, 1889, Bury was sentenced to hang. The sentence was carried out a few days afterwords, Bury showing no remorse for his crimes and remarking to the hangman just before the rope was put around his neck: "I suppose you think you are clever to hang me."

In more recent years, noted Ripperologist William Beadle has made a strong case suggesting that Bury may have been Jack the Ripper, the world's most famous serial slasher. His reasons are actually justifiable and can be proven on some level. Still, nothing is concrete and for now Bury's body count rests at a mere two confirmed victims, while another possible six have yet to be proved or disproved.