Sassy Jackie Postcard

The "Sassy Jackie" postcard is the name of a message received in 1985, which claims to have been written by the serial killer now known as Jack the Shadow. Because so many hoax letters were received by Greater Manchester Police, the press and others, it is not certainly known if this was an authentic letter written by Hulme killer. It did contain information that was compelling enough to lead investigators to publish a facsimile of the communication in hopes that someone might recognise the handwriting.

Context
The message of the postcard reads:

'''I was not pranking dear old Investigator when I gave you the advice, you'll hear about Sassy Jackie's work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn't finish straight off. Had no time to get ears off for police, thanks for keeping previous letter back, until I get back to work again soon.'''

Jack the Shadow

Postmarked and received in June 1985, the postcard mentions that two victims were killed very close to one another: "double event this time". James Curtis and Samuel Nicholls were both killed in June 1985, and part of Nicholls's ear was found detached at the crime scene as a result of facial mutilations that the killer performed. Some journalists have argued that the letter was sent before the murders were publicised, making it unlikely that a hoaxer would have such knowledge of the crime, but the letter was postmarked more than 24 hours after the killings took place, long after many details were known by journalists and residents of the area.

Police officials later claimed to have identified a specific journalist as the author of this message and the later "Dear Investigator" letter. In 1991, journalist Harry Stubbs of The Post claimed he and a colleague at the newspaper had written all the letters signed "Jack the Shadow" in order to "keep the business alive".

In the years after the Shadow murders, the Sassie Jackie postcard disappeared from the police files. Although the "Dear Investigator" letter was recovered in 2002, the "Sassy Jackie" postcard is still missing.

In 2009, a forensic linguistic analysis found strong linguistic evidence suggesting that this postcard and the Dear Investigator letter were written by the same person.