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LONDON - Psychologists agree the killer being hunted over the slayings of five British prostitutes is losing control and will kill again soon unless he is caught.
Police have so far found the bodies of five women - three prostitutes and two others believed to be missing sex workers.
All have been discovered in the past 11 days in or around Ipswich in the east England county of Suffolk.
Police in the neighbouring county of Norfolk are looking into possible links with four unsolved cases of missing or murdered prostitutes there.
Criminal psychologists have started to compile profiles of the suspect. "He is clearly organised and clever. He is unlikely to be obviously weird because the prostitutes are getting into the vehicle with him," said criminal psychologist Michael Berry.
"If a guy is smooth and hands over the money and she is comfortable, she is likely to take him somewhere away from cameras, nearby.
"She will protect him by doing this. That's when he kills her," said Dr Berry, a senior lecturer in forensic psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Dr Berry said the murderer was likely to be white, because killers tended to select targets within their own racial group. The killer also appeared to know the area and bushland spots to dump the bodies, choosing locations carefully to help destroy forensic evidence. In two cases, the bodies were found in streams.
"He's likely to be someone mature enough to cope with the stress and enjoy the buzz he is getting from doing it," he said.
"It is not at all an impulsive crime to pick someone up and kill them and drive a distance away with a body. He would have to feel comfortable and not panic. There is also a drive he has got - to kill in such a short space of time."
Dr Berry said the speed of the killings was "very worrying", adding: "I would expect him to carry on killing until he is caught. It will be a mind-game between him and the police."
Dr Ian Stephen, a psychologist working with police investigating the murders, fears the slayings may be part of a larger killing spree.
"The killer is losing control and there is a compulsion taking over," he said.
- AAP
