John Samuel Humble, also known as Wearside Jack, was a British man who pretended to be the Yorkshire Ripper in a hoax audio recording and several letters during the period 1978-1979. He was jailed in 2006 for eight years for perverting the course of justice and died in 2019 from heart failure and the effects of his alcoholism. Humble sent a cassette to Assistant Chief Constable Oldfield, where he introduced himself only under the name "Jack" and claimed responsibility for the Ripper murders to that point. The hoax led to a wild goose chase by the police, allowing the real Ripper to stay on the street and commit more murders in the interim. Humble had a fascination with the original Jack the Ripper, who terrorized the streets of east London in 1888. After his release from prison, he retreated to the small town of South Shields where his drinking increased.