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Proving the provenance by testing the blood on the shawl against the victim was the first thing they did.

• apaprocki 12y ago
  Well, more like proved the possibility that the shawl was in fact from the victim, given the material, design, and the fact that the mtDNA matched a descendent. There are still many, many other peoples' blood from that time period that would yield the same match, but coupled with the story of the background of the shawl, they would like you to believe it a 100% match for their purposes. (A cynic would say... to sell the book.)
• m0nty 12y ago
  But it was also kept in a "crime museum" where it might have become contaminated, and DNA samples will degrade over time, so a cautious representation of this finding would be "might show the identity" rather than “Jack the Ripper has been identified." > "An interesting but remarkable claim that needs to be subjected to peer review, with detailed analysis of the provenance of the shawl and the nature of the claimed DNA match with the perpetrator's descendants and its power of discrimination; no actual evidence has yet been provided," Jeffreys told The Independent newspaper.