John Morris was born and brought in Northamptonshire, son of an aircraft engineer and headmistress of the local village school. John married Yvonne in 1976 and they have two adult children. A graduate in law, John attended Guildford College of Law prior to qualifying as a solicitor. He practised mainly as a criminal lawyer in Swansea for more than twenty years. In millennium year, John and his family moved to Yvonne's home country of Ireland, where he continued to practice law. Now retired and living in Wicklow with his wife, two cats and a dog, John continues to conduct historical research with an emphasis on the Whitechapel murders of 1888.