London police are back on the trail of Jack the Ripper - but this time for crimes against education.
PC Tom Venour was horrified to learn the notorious serial killer makes up a quarter of pupils' GCSE coursework at St Mark's Catholic School in Hounslow.
Students at the Bath Road secondary school, including his 15-year-old son Anthony, even enjoyed a day trip to east London to see where the fiend's mutilated victims were found.
Mr Venour, of Longford Close, Hampton, claimed teachers are so caught up with making lessons exciting they are letting basic standards slip.
"Pupils should be learning about key figures and major events that helped shaped our society, not a Victorian murder mystery," he said.
"This could have been slipped into a lesson to introduce what life was like in Victorian Britain, but it shouldn't make up such a large chunk of one of my son's most important exams.
"Of course children enjoy studying Jack the Ripper because it's a complete doss, but they're not learning anything."
A spokesman for the school pointed out that St Mark's had the borough's joint second best GCSE results last year, with 88 per cent of pupils achieving five or more A* - C grade GCSEs, and its curriculum was called 'outstanding' by Ofsted.
