"Ripperologists" have come out to debunk the claim by an amateur historian that he's conclusively identified who the infamous Jack the Ripper really is.

Russell Edwards, a London businessman, claims a deranged Polish hairdresser named Aaron Kosminski is Jack the Ripper, the serial killer that murdered five London prostitutes in the 1880s.

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Jack the Ripper was never caught and the man has fueled an industry built on his notoriety.

Edwards operates a tour business that takes people around Whitechapel in the East End of London where the Jack the Ripper murders took place.

Edwards made the astounding claim in a just released book, "Naming Jack the Ripper."

"Put the case to bed," he told ITV News. "We've done this."

Edwards said he's certain Kosminski is Jack the Ripper based on DNA findings made by his associate, Finnish molecular biologist Dr. Jari Louhelainen who works at John Moores University in Liverpool.

Dr. Louhelainen said he used a technique called "vacuuming" to remove DNA from a stained shawl said to have belonged to one of the victims, Catherine Eddowes.

Edwards bought the shawl at an auction in 2007 and asked Dr. Louhelainen to find any clues connected to the Ripper case.

Dr. Louhelainen said infrared imaging revealed the stains on the shawl were blood stains and were consistent with arterial blood splatter caused by slashing.

Dr. Louhelainen further claimed the DNA from the blood stains found on the shawl was a match for Eddowes. Another DNA signature, supposedly from semen on the scarf, was linked to relatives of Kosminski.

This is the basis for Edwards' claim to have conclusively identified Jack the Ripper.

Ripperologists or purported experts about Jack the Ripper are skeptical of Edwards' claim, to say the least.

Jack the Ripper remains unknown, said Ripperologists in "Casebook: Jack the Ripper," an online database and forum for Ripperologists.

Ripperologists said they've have known about the scarf and Kosminski for decades. What's new to the over century old mystery are the DNA tests.

"There's kind of a 'CSI Effect' going on," said Stephen Ryder, executive editor of the Casebook online forum.

"People hear 'DNA,' and they think it's 100 percent solved."

Ryder said Ripperologists see claims like Edwards' a couple of times a year, "but this one has gone viral."

Ripperologists believe the chain of evidence will never hold up in court since Edwards' claim is based on fresh analysis of DNA recovered from a century-old bloodstained scarf.

Dr. Louhelainen's result was flawed, said Ripperologists. He could recover the genetic signature only from mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, rather than the nuclear DNA that serves as a unique identifier of a person.

Many people can share the same mtDNA signature and the signature linked to Kosminski, T1a1, is a relatively common subtype. This means Dr. Louhelainen's determination doesn't mean a thing, said Ripperologists.

The scarf is also heavily contaminated. It's been contaminated for over a century.

It's also unclear is the scarf was ever owned by Eddowes. The scarf was only found at the crime scene.

Kosminski, a lunatic, also doesn't fit with the profile of a cunning and cold blooded serial killer. He was placed in an insane asylum in 1891, or three years after the Ripper murders took place.

He was only 23 years old and somewhat thin. Witnesses consistently described the Ripper as a heavier-built, older man.

"If it actually was Kosminski, this guy was a borderline raving lunatic," Ryder said.

"This was not a criminal mastermind by any means."