About Chris Jones

  Chris Jones, Chief Executive of Brickmay Publishing Ltd, is a retired secondary school teacher, though he still works part-time as a mountain leader specialising in supporting DofE expeditions in the hills and mountains of North Wales. Chris is a graduate in modern history and politics from Liverpool University. He later obtained the PGCE teaching qualification, a Masters in Education and the prestigious NPQH award. He taught in comprehensive schools in Bootle and Liverpool on Merseyside. He was for many years Head of History in a Bootle school before later becoming a Deputy Headteacher in one of Liverpool’s largest secondary schools.

Chris Jones became interested in the Maybrick case and the Ripper Diary in 2008 when he organised the Trial of James Maybrick. The event was part of the celebrations to mark Liverpool being the European Capital of Culture. It featured a stellar cast of experts. Keith Skinner, Paul Begg, Donald Rumbelow, Professors Bill Rubinstein and David Canter, and local historian, Vincent Burke, all agreed to speak. Michael Barrett was invited but failed to attend. One other person who asked to attend was Jeremy Beadle, TV personality and true crime guru. He agreed to compere the whole programme. Three other people in attendance at the event were Robert Smith, the current owner of the Diary, Albert Johnson, who brought his infamous Maybrick watch, and Paul Dodd, owner of the property that was once Battlecrease House, home of the Maybricks.

 As a result of the Maybrick trial, Chris was thrown into the murky world of Diary politics and it led him to write his first Maybrick A to Z book, which was very well received. Chris tried to present the facts in a balanced manner, leaving the reader with the opportunity to analyse them and reach their own conclusions. The book led to an unexpected series of beneficial and enjoyable experiences. Chris got to meet a diverse group of people, and even appeared briefly on TV as an expert on the daytime television programme Murder, Mystery and My Family. He met the leading players in the Diary and Watch saga, including Michael Barrett, Anne Graham and Albert Johnson. 

As well as his Maybrick A to Z book, Chris has contributed numerous articles on the Maybricks in various journals, including the excellent Whitechapel Society Journal. He has also contributed to two books produced by the Whitechapel Society. In the first, Jack the Ripper: The Suspects (2011), he wrote about the credentials of James Maybrick to be the Ripper. In the second, The Little Book of Jack the Ripper (2014), he wrote about the Ripper letters.

In 2022, Chris co-authored with Dr Daniel Dolgin, the award winning book, The Maybrick Murder and the Diary of Jack the Ripper: The End Game. The second edition of this book is being published in October 2024.