[Johnny Thunder]

Keep off the streets, British prostitutes urged
By Alessia Pierdomenico
Wed Dec 13, 8:17 AM ET

Police hunting a serial killer who is murdering women at a rate unprecedented in British criminal history urged prostitutes on Wednesday to stay off the streets. Five naked bodies have been found near the eastern English port town of Ipswich in the last 11 days, terrifying the community in an area where serious crime is relatively rare. Detectives have identified three of the dead women as prostitutes. Police said they feared the other two bodies may be sex workers from Ipswich who had been reported missing.

Paula Clennell, 24, has not been seen since Saturday and Annette Nicholls, 29, has been missing for at least a week. "Three of their peers have been murdered, now tragically possibly another two. It's not safe. They need to stay off the streets," Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull told BBC radio.

The discovery of so many victims in so few days has raised fears another "Ripper" targeting prostitutes is on the loose.

The most notorious such killer was the 19th-century murderer known as Jack the Ripper, blamed for the deaths of five prostitutes in east London in 1888 but never found. The most prolific was Peter Sutcliffe, called the Yorkshire Ripper, who murdered 13 women, mainly prostitutes, in northern England from 1975 to 1980 before he was caught.

The News of the World, Britain's biggest selling newspaper, offered a reward of 250,000 pounds ($490,000) for the capture of the person it dubbed the "Suffolk Strangler." The two latest bodies were discovered in Levington, east of Ipswich, close to where the naked body of another victim, Anneli Alderton, 24, was found in woodland on Sunday.

Mike Berry, a criminal psychologist, said the Ipswich killer was an exceptionally cold-blooded and skilful operator. "The killer may be confident he will not be caught," he wrote in the Daily Mirror. "He will be fascinated by the coverage of the case ... he will be thinking 'the game is on'."

A huge police inquiry began on December 2 when the body of Gemma Adams, 25, was found in a stream near Ipswich. Police found 19-year-old Tania Nicol's body in the same stream on December 8.

(Additional reporting by Deborah Haynes, Michael Holden, Kate Kelland and Jeremy Lovell)

 

[RAXL]

5 in 11 days. That's an astonishing pace. :xbones:

They're looking for a fat man in a bmw right now.

 

[Johnny Thunder]

Prostitute killer hunt narrows in on five suspects: reports

by Cyril Belaud1 hour, 44 minutes ago

Police hunting a killer dubbed the "Suffolk Strangler" after the deaths of five prostitutes are focusing on five key suspects, media reports said.

Detectives want to talk to a taxi driver, a businessman and a man with a liking for outdoor sex, all of whom were clients of Tania Nicol, one of the dead working girls, the Sun reported.

They are increasingly confident that they are closing in on the killer terrorising the sleepy town of Ipswich after the discovery of five bodies in ten days, according to the Times.

One man, described as "very interesting" by an unnamed senior police source, has come to the fore of the probe, the Times said, adding that sex offenders and people associated with the drugs trade are also being investigated.

The victims have been confirmed as Gemma Adams, 25; Tania Nicol, 19; Anneli Alderton, 24; Paula Clennell, also 24; and Annette Nicholls, 29.

Cause of death has only been established in two of the cases -- Clennell died of "compression to the neck," while Alderton was strangled.

The focus of the inquiry has "narrowed significantly", the Times's source said.

"We are looking at a small number of individuals and are at a key stage of the investigation," they added.

Police think it is "very significant" that none of the womens' bodies show signs of a struggle and that none was sexually assaulted before being killed, the Times reported.

Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull, heading the probe, said Friday that his team was making "good progress". He said police were "looking at a number of interesting people" but admitted they did not have any suspects.

Ipswich's streets were again virtually deserted Friday night, despite Christmas parties being in full swing elsewhere in the UK, as the market town lives in fear of more deaths.

Police and local drug workers are paying prostitutes to stay off the streets with money being provided by an unidentified charity.

Many have compared the killings to those committed by the notorious Jack the Ripper, who murdered five east London prostitutes in 1888, and Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, responsible for the deaths of 13 women between 1975 and 1980.

In one of Britain's biggest-ever murder hunts, more than 300 officers from nine police forces around the country have been drafted in to help.

Investigators in the town are ploughing through thousands of calls from the public and trying to trace the victims' last movements.

 

[RAXL]

I still can't believe how quickly this guy killed five girls. Less than two weeks.
That's not "normal" for a serial killer. This guy is really ****ing angry. :xbones:

Here's a thought. People in Britain are always crying about all the video cameras over there, saying they have no privacy, and yet, this guy can kill five girls in public, in incredibly violent ways, and there's apparently not a camera in sight.:voorhees: :voorhees:

 

[Johnny Thunder]

Case closed?

British charge man in prostitute murders
18 minutes ago

Authorities charged a 48-year-old man with the murder of five prostitutes whose bodies were recovered near this English town earlier this month, police said Thursday.

Police identified the suspect as Steve Wright, who lived in the town's red-light district and was taken into custody Tuesday.

A 37-year-old man detained on Monday - identified by news reports as Tom Stephens - was released, police said.

All five victims had been working as prostitutes, and their naked bodies were found in rural areas around Ipswich over a period of about 10 days beginning Dec. 2.

Three of the bodies were found near the main road and the rail line between Ipswich and Trimley; the two others were discovered near the same road in areas south and southwest of Ipswich.

The British Broadcasting Corp. and other media reported earlier that Wright worked as a forklift driver and had lived in the area since September. Neighbors said the man was often seen washing his dark blue Ford Mondeo inside and out.

News reports identified Stephens as a part-time taxi driver, supermarket worker and former volunteer police officer. He was quoted in an interview with the Sunday Mirror newspaper as saying he knew all the victims, and regarded himself as their protector.

News of the arrest came a day after an inquest into the deaths of Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell, and Annette Nicholls. An inquest into the death of the fifth victim, Gemma Adams, 25, was held last week.

Clennell, 24, died of compression to her neck, and Alderton, 24, was strangled, a senior pathologist determined. Post-mortem examinations of the bodies of Nicol, 19, and Nicholls, 29, reached no conclusion on the cause of death.

 

[skullboy]

I still can't believe how quickly this guy killed five girls. Less than two weeks.
That's not "normal" for a serial killer. This guy is really ****ing angry. :xbones:

Here's a thought. People in Britain are always crying about all the video cameras over there, saying they have no privacy, and yet, this guy can kill five girls in public, in incredibly violent ways, and there's apparently not a camera in sight.:voorhees: :voorhees:

UUHHH,a serial killer is normal?I am angry,aint killed noone ,YET.