My mother, Shirley Harrison, who has died aged 91, was an enthusiastic and empathetic journalist and writer. Without formal academic training, Shirley had a rare ability to write in an accessible but always well-informed and well-researched way.
In the 1990s she became embroiled in unexpected controversy after writing a book about the apparent diary of Jack the Ripper. Shirley had been handed the facsimile of the alleged diary by her agent, and commissioned to both authenticate it and write a narrative commentary. Published in 1993, the book was an international bestseller, but attacks from sceptics led to the US publisher pulping its copies before release, and the Sunday Times pulling out of its serialisation. Shirley was always open to new evidence, but remained convinced of the diary’s authenticity and was frustrated by the vitriol she received in relation to it.
