KEY POINTS:
LONDON - Police hunting the killer of at least two prostitutes in East Anglia said on Tuesday they believe the street walkers of Ipswich may have vital information that could help identify the murderer.
"I am convinced the working prostitutes in Ipswich probably hold the key as to who is responsible and they need to contact Suffolk Police with any suspicions they may have," said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull.
He appealed for sex workers to come forward after police mounted high-visibility patrols in the red light area of the city overnight.
Gull said it was too early to say whether one individual or more were behind the murders. Three prostitutes have been found dead and two more reported missing.
Gull said there has still not been any news of Paula Clennell, 24, who has not been seen since Saturday nor of 29-year-old Annette Nicholls, who has been missing for at least a week.
He said officers were still only linking two murders -- those of Gemma Adams, 25, and 19-year-old Tania Nicol whose naked bodies were found in the same stretch of water to the west of the city.
The naked corpse of a third woman, 24, was found in Nacton to the east of Ipswich on December 10.
"We are not linking it (the death) at this stage. Clearly there are distinct and striking similarities -- all young, all women, all prostitutes who worked the streets of Ipswich," he said.
The deaths and disappearances have spread panic in the back streets of Ipswich which were quiet on Monday night as most sex workers heeded police warnings to stay at home.
On December 2 police found Nicol in a stream and on December 8 police divers recovered the body of Adams in the same stretch of water.
Detectives have said none of the dead women is thought to have been sexually assaulted.
- REUTERS
* THE KILLER
The attacker may be targeting prostitutes out of a sense of hatred and because he believes he can "get away with it", research into previous attacks on sex workers suggests. The multiple murderer may also be suffering from mental illness, and have a long history of violence against prostitutes, specialists said. They fear that he will target sex workers until he is caught.
'Prolific' attacker
Rosie Campbell, a researcher and chairwoman of the UK Network of Sex Work Projects, said: "You see many one-off murders of sex workers, which are usually the culmination of a number of previous rapes and attacks on sex workers. This latest case seems to be in the group of prolific murderers. It can just be about hatred or the thrill of killing without prior sexual contact."
On the street
Hilary Kinnell, an expert on violence against prostitutes, analysed 84 sex worker homicides that occurred between 1990 and 2004. All but one of the victims were women aged from 14 to 46. About 80 per cent of the women worked on the street, showing how vulnerable they are compared with prostitutes who operate from massage parlours or flats. Just over half of the killings were by men approaching as clients. About a third were carried out by the victim's partner, acquaintance or drug dealer.
Infamous cases
The Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, killed 13 women in the north of England and attacked seven more in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Several were prostitutes. Anthony Hardy was convicted in November 2003 of the murder of three London sex workers. Two were found dismembered in bin bags near his home in Camden. The third was found dead in his flat, but the post mortem concluded she had died from natural causes. He had a history of psychiatric disorder.
* THE VICTIMS
Gemma Adams 25, was last seen on November 15 in Ipswich's red-light district and was reported missing by her boyfriend when she failed to return home. Her naked body, bearing no signs of a sexual assault, was found in a stream at Hintlesham on December 2. She had grown up on the outskirts of Ipswich but had lost contact with her family after becoming a heroin addict.
Tania Nicol 19, vanished on October 30. She had left her home on Woolverstone Close, Ipswich, where she lived with her family, to head for the red-light district. Her body was found in a pond at Copdock Mill on December 8. The stream where Gemma Adams was found runs into the pond. Tania was naked but there was no evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.
Paula Clennell The fourth prostitute to go missing. The 24-year-old was last seen on Sunday in Ipswich's red-light district. She spoke to a friend on Monday but has not been seen since and police are concerned about her wherebabouts. Police said she lived at a number of addresses in Ipswich.
Annette Nicholls, 29, works as a prostitute in Ipswich, was reported missing by her family yesterday. They last saw her on December 4 and became concerned after press reports about the deaths of the three other women.
Unknown. The naked body of a woman in her 20s was found in woods at Nacton, a village south-east of Ipswich, on Monday. Police said that she was working as a prostitute in Ipswich but have not yet named her. It is believed that she did not live at a fixed address.
- INDEPENDENT
