Havant has a connection with Jack the Ripper. At the time of the murders, in 1888 a letter with a Portsmouth postmark was sent to a magistrate claiming to be from Jack the Ripper. The writer said not to look for him in London because 'I'm not there'. Shortly afterwards a boy in Havant was stabbed 3 times in the throat and died. A lot of people were afraid that Jack was in the area but it seems unlikely as he killed women, not boys.
At about 6 pm on 26 November 1888 an 8-year-old boy called Percy Searle was walking along a lane between Manor Close and Pallant House. (His mother sent him to get some material from a drapers shop in North Street). He was stabbed in the neck 3 times. One stab severed an artery and caused him to bleed to death. An 11-year-old boy named Thomas Husband said he heard a ‘squeal’ and saw a man stabbing Percy. Thomas said he shouted ‘murder’ and the man ran away.
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