Mary Ann Nichols, known as Polly to friends, family and the law, was the first canonical victim of the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. One of many women who would lose their lives in Whitechapel, London, whose existence is known only because she was viciously murdered, it's about time we asked who was Polly and how did she end up slain on the streets of Whitechapel? What circumstances led her here and why oh why was Polly labelled a prostitute?