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Desperate police admit strangler is out of control
Last updated at 17:07pm on 13.12.06
Murdered: Paula Clennell went missing after giving an interview about the murder of her friend Gemma Adams
Killed or missing: (clockwise from top left) Murdered: Gemma Adams was found first. Murdered: Tania Nicol was only 19. Murdered?: Paula Clennell has three children. Murdered?: Annette Nicholls is feared dead
Fears: Detective Chief Inspector Stewart Gull
Murdered: Anneli Alderton
There are growing concerns tonight that police are drawing a blank in the hunt for the Suffolk Strangler.
Officers from the Suffolk force - one of the smallest in the country - have been "overwhelmed" by the discovery of five bodies in 10 days.
Suffolk Strangler Special Report: news, pictures, video and features here
Unless there is a dramatic breakthrough tonight, many key facts in the inquiry still remain unclear.
They include:
• The names of the last two victims, which have not been released officially.
• How four of the women died - only the third victim, Anneli Alderton, 24, is known to have been strangled.
• Any clues that have emerged from the 2,200 calls received by police in the past 24 hours.
There have also been no appeals for any suspicious vehicles linked to the investigation.
One source said: "Even a larger force would have a problem resourcing at this stage. It is six weeks since the first prostitute went missing - and police admit it is a race against time before the killer strikes again."
Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull, who is leading the manhunt, went on television to say the serial killer is "out of control". He has murdered five women in six weeks, an unprecedented rate in British criminal history.
Some of the prostitutes in Ipswich's red-light area have given police names of their customers and detectives are trying to compile a complete list.
They are also checking thousands of hours of CCTV footage.
Leads they are investigating include:
• The women's mobile phones and phone records. The bodies were found naked and if the killer has not destroyed their phones and personal possessions, police may be able to track him.
• CCTV footage along the A14 dual carriageway, which links the locations of all the dumped bodies.
•Reports that the third victim, Anneli Alderton, was last seen getting into a blue BMW.
• A call to Paula Clennell's mother from a male "friend" claiming he saw her on Sunday. Who was the caller - could it have been the killer playing mind games?
• DNA evidence from the bodies. In his hurry to dump the last two victims in the past week, did the killer leave behind any forensic clues?
•Claims he may be a truck driver. The A14 leads to the port of Felixstowe and two bodies discovered yesterday were dumped near a derelict strip of the old Ipswich-to-Felixstowe road which stretches only 100 yards and is a popular overnight stop for lorry drivers.
While experts across the country offer their view of the killer's psychological profile, police are desperate to uncover hard evidence which could lead them to him.
It is possible the attacker is a "trophy killer" who has kept the clothes and possessions of all his victims.
The key to finding him may be held by the small number of prostitutes in Ipswich's red-light district.
The victims are likely to have known their killer. The numbers of sex workers in the area is said to be about 40, but the hardcore is about 15 - five of whom are now dead.
Officers will now be making detailed inquiries into final sightings of the most recent victims, presumed to be Ms Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29. They are both thought to have been murdered within the past week.
At present the crime scenes where the women's bodies were dumped have offered few leads. The first two victims, Gemma Adams, 25, and Tania Nicol, 19, were found in a stream. Police say they still do not know how they were killed and admit they may even have been poisoned. They are carrying out toxicology tests.
Ms Alderton, 24, who it is believed was snatched from the street and dumped on 7 December, was strangled.
The area where the last two victims were found was covered with tarpaulins today as a Home Office pathologist prepared to carry out post mortems.
Mr Gull said he believes the women have been killed at one location then dumped elsewhere.
Police fear that as the red-light district is swarming with officers, the killer may turn his attention elsewhere. Mr Gull issued a stark warning that any single woman "could potentially be in danger".
He said: "Clearly we are coming up to Christmas and the New Year. People will naturally be going out for office parties and celebrating with family and friends.
"I would give the same advice as we would at any time of year - do not go out alone, go out in company, make sure you know where you are going and if possible give someone a contact number."
Reader views (16)
What kind of demented monster does this?
You geezers better catch this loonytune before he kills any more girls.
Hang him high!
- Crocodile George, South Australian Outback
I understand that here is no death penalty in the UK.
Looks like the killer gets life in jail for the first killing, and all the rest are for FREE.
Me thinks, if it kills 10, a 100, 1,000 that is a lot for FREE. Liberal intellectual thought in action: kill ALL you want for FREE.
- A Reader, USA
I think this whole incident is sick!! The person responsible or persons for doing this will pay a much higher price somewhere other than here on earth ! Even if they are never caught,I would not want my executioner to be God.
- Chaepn Hurst, tampa,florida
I just hope this killer will be captured. Noone has right to kill anyone. Today prostitutes, tomorrow....who?
- Nedzad, Bosnia, Mostar, Bosnia
Sure I think prostitutes are often in dangerous situations as these awful murders prove however would legalising prostitution make much difference?
If there is a murderer(s) out there they will just murder regardless of whether a woman is a prostitute or not - perhaps they will grab women off the street instead if prostitutes are not on the streets.
- Karen, Paddington
Surely the argument is not so much about legalising prostitution as the police, and society in general, needing to take assaults on prostitutes seriously. Whoever does this won't have just started killing - they will probably have a history of serious assaults, increasing in severity as they realise they are able to get away with it. It is shameful that as an alledgely 'civilised' country our police see it as a waste of time and resources to investigates crime against prostitutes, believing that they deserve rape and worse. This attitude is also seen in our shamefully low conviction rates for rape, where a woman can be seen as having asked for it depending on her choice of clothes and sexual history. Until we start treating prostitutes as victims of crime there will always be those out there who believe they deserve whatever they get.
- Caroline, London, UK
I hope he is caught soon. However I am sick of people using this as an excuse to talk about legalising prostitution. This is a seperate debate. We don't legalise burglary because some burglars get killed by people while out at night. Prostitution is a crime because it blights the local communities. I wish people would step out of their ivory politically correct towers on this. We should also reintroduce the death penalty, anyone who can do this is not just criminal but evil too.
- Huw Morgan, London
I would agree strongly with Fred in Dubai.
Is it not our lack of 'punishment to fit the crime' that ensures that our nation goes on breeding this kind of behaviour.
We are a SOFT touch!!
- Giles, Cheshunt, UK
Has anyone ever thought that it might not necessarily be a man and it could quite logically be a woman? The psychological hatred of prostitution from a woman's perspective could lead her to despise prostitutes and take her anger out on them. Also, are all the prostitutes drug addicts as this may make a more specific target/victim and therefore fit a different criminal profile. I just hope it stops.
- John, Bracknell,
All the police need to do is check up on the sex offenders in the area that are supposed to be serving life sentences behind bars, but instead have been let out under license and are being "supervised" by the home office.
- Frank, Home Counties, England
A small town - lots of drugs - lots of prostitution - lots of murders. Could this be the low crime time we are living in that the PM goes on about? Does not punishing criminals harshly result in this? If they catch him he won't be punished, they'll try to rehabilitate him.
- Fred, Dubai
I know the police work on profiling such as one white male, 25-49, won't kill women outside of his own race etc.
But given the frequency of these killings (in that they have happened in a matter of weeks) and we have now found out that one has died in a different way to the others. Is it not possible that there could be more than one killer? I'm just wondering whether this is something completely different to a stereotypical serial killer scenario?
If you think of someone like Peter Sutcliffe, his murders took place over several years and many serial killers will use the same method of killing. Also that none of the women killed, as far as we know, have been sexually abused or robbed. Obviously there is a motivation of power and some form of gratification. But what if this were the work of a group of people who despised prostitutes for what they are and wanted to play god with them?
Obviously the police or investigators would know better than I or that there are other cases that match this one, but we live in a very changing world. These days no one would put it past someone with mental problems who has been wrongly left to fend for themselves in our society or embittered jilted husbands to gangs or even religious fundamentalists to carry this out. I'm just saying that perhaps we shouldn't stick to previous assumptions that this can only be a single white male serial killer and be a bit more open-minded.
- Kit Robinson, Chiswick
My deep sympathy to the family and friends of these young girls!!
The areas where two bodies were found is a busy cut through for traffic going to Tesco, Morrisons, Asda and Sainsburys. Indeed it is a very important cuthrough that is used by many local people. It misses the busy Copdock roundabout!
I am surprised the police have not set up check points to question motorists.
- C. Kemp, Ipswich Suffolk
Maybe just maybe this will make this country sit up and do something to protect these girls and boys (As everyone seems to forget about male sex workers). Is it not time to legalise prostitution so that sex workers do not have to walk the streets looking for work and putting themselves at risk? This is not a career option, you do not wake up one morning and decide there is a good future in prostitution, most of these folk are desperate and not just because of a drug habit, as the media seems to be presenting them.
Unless the killer is caught and caught quickly this will continue as the prostitutes will continue to work, there is little other option open for them. Please let's do something to help them.
- Jackie, Melksham
This is totally horrifying and I hope the perpetrator is caught quickly. My thoughts are with the families of these girls.
It is of course only natural that such events lead to parallels with similar historic episodes such as Jack the Ripper and the Yorkshire Ripper. What was brought home to me yesterday as I came home from work past the London Dungeon was how quickly the terror and gruesome nature of such crimes is forgotten. The London Dungeon even goes as far as making such crimes into a tourist attraction. Let's hope no-one so distastefully creates an Ipswich tour t-shirt as the London Dugeon has for Whitechapel. History it may be, but murder it still is.
- Gareth Morgan, London, UK
In a perverse context, despite the lurid all-media speculation about a serial killer on the loose in Ipswich, I would opine that the police would prefer to be pursuing one murderer than having the nightmare prospect of four, or perhaps five suspects out there.
- Ted, Shetland
