10:00AM, Thursday 02 August 2012
A man whose job sees him regularly tackling anti-social behaviour in Windsor has spent 15 years tracking the notorious Jack the Ripper for a new book.
Police Community Support Officer David Bullock has been part of Windsor's police support team for four-and-a-half years.
But in his spare time he has been engrossed in the horrors of Whitechapel in the 1890s.
David, 36, became fascinated after seeing a television show about Jack the Ripper. But it was reading a book about a man suspected of being the killer that stirred his imagination.
He began following in the footsteps of two Sun journalists from the 1890s who were convinced a man called Thomas Cutbush was the notorious killer. They even interviewed him at Broadmoor.
David said: "I applied to Broadmoor in 2005 to see his files. There are a lot of processes to go through and it took three years to get access.
"They offered a fascinating insight into Cutbush's mental state, his aggression, his tendency to attack other prisoners - even the warden's notes about the things he said when he was on his own.
"I did not find a 'smoking gun' but as I looked at the details a clear patterm emerged. Time and again a person fitting Cutbush's description had been seen with victims."
Although 'The Man Who Would Be Jack' is David's first book, he has always enjoyed writing and was a finalist in a short story competition run by Waterstone's in 2008.
He acted for 10 years on television, in independent films and at Northampton's Royal Theatre before becoming part of the Windsor centre police team four years ago.
He is closely involved with Windsor's homeless, supporting the shelter at Windsor Baptist Church in Victoria Street, which has helped several people find homes.
David is married to Becky and has a son Samuel, four.
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