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Fred Best

Fred Best
Best
Biographical Information
Name:
Frederick Best
Gender:
Male
Occupation:
Reporter
Hometown:
Whitechapel, London England
Friends and Family
Friends:
Edmund Reid, Bennet Drake, Homer Jackson,
Enemies:
Theodore Swift, Frank Goodnight,
Behind the Scenes
Portrayed by:
David Dawson

Reporter for the 'Star' newspaper that runs throughout London. He spread fear along with his fellow reporters, dubbing the Whitechapel Murderer 'Jack the Ripper'. Throughout the course of the show he was always pestering the officers of H-Division for information on the latest cases, he was a true thorn in the side for Reid. In season one he had his right ear severed from his head by Frank Goodnight, a former Pinkerton and comrade of Homer Jackson, under order of Theodore Swift. By season three he aided Reid in the case of the Whitechapel Locomotive Disaster and brining whoever was responsible to justice. Best' contributions to Reid's investigations did not go unnoticed because when Theodore Patrick Swift returned to London, his men were sent out to capture Best. In Best's final moments he was being tortured by Swift's men before Swift himself, shot him to death. The last of Best that Reid hears about is the obituary for him.

"London will remember him for this, that he was the detective, alongside Detective Inspector Frederick Abberline, led the pursuit of the man, we at The Star named 'Jack the Ripper'. But whilst his streets might, in the years since, have found some measure of recovery, it is the obituarists fear that Edmund Reid did not. If there is justice where he now walks, it might be that the care which he wore so heavily will be lifted from him. Those who knew him, those who did not, those who may have only seen him stride past in pursuit of whatever villainy beset him that day, we might offer a prayer for him. And this might be our prayer for peace. For his peace. We, the children of the East, of the docksides, rookeries and laneways, we pray for the peace of Edmund Reid.

Historically Best was a reporter that was helping spread to notoriety of Jack the Ripper. Many years after the investigation Best confessed to have written the 'dear boss' letter. The letter that was given to Scotland Yard on September 29 1888, just a day before Catherine Eddowes was murdered in Mitre Square.

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