NZ ripper victim was known to police

The New Zealand woman who is believed to be one of three victims of England's so-called "ripper" killer was a prostitute and drug addict whose DNA was on file at Scotland Yard.

The head and hands of 34-year-old Bridgette Cathy MacClennan are still missing, a British paper reported yesterday.

Scotland Yard confirmed that Ms MacClennan's body was one of two found dismembered and dumped in a rubbish bag in bins behind a pub in Camden, north London.

Unemployed Australian man Anthony John Hardy, 51, has been charged with the murders of three women and has appeared in court in north London.

Parts of legs from the body of former Nottingham woman Elizabeth Valad, 29, were found by a vagrant looking in the bins for food.

After a search, Ms MacClennan's torso was found in a rubbish bag in a wheelie bin and other body parts were found in the bin.

Ms Valad's torso was found in Hardy's Camden flat wrapped in a bin liner, a day after the initial discovery.

The Mirror tabloid newspaper reported that the heads and hands of Ms MacClennan and Ms Valad were still missing, despite police searching the area around Hardy's home and in the nearby Regents Canal.

Ms Valad was identified by serial numbers on her breast and buttock implants and Ms MacClennan was identified using DNA tests.

Ms MacClennan had a criminal record involving drugs and prostitution and police already had her DNA on their database.

Hardy allegedly posted a friend 48 explicit photographic negatives of the two women lying on his bed before they were killed.

Hardy was arested less than two hours later near London's Great Ormond St Hospital.

He appeared in Hendon Magistrates Court charged with the murder of the two women as well as of a third woman, Sally Rose White, 38, who was found dead in Hardy's home in January last year.

It was initially thought Ms White died of a heart attack but prosecutor Hywel Ebsworth said in court that the case had been reopened because of the present inquiry.

Hardy, a father of four and former mechanical engineer, arrived at the court covered in a blanket before being escorted to the dock.

Flanked by two prison officers, Hardy gave short answers to questions about his name, address and birthdate.

Hardy was remanded to reappear at the Old Bailey on Monday.

Yesterday, a special service was held at St Pancras Old Church in Camden to pray for the dead women.

Ms MacClennan was a mother of two sons, aged 8 and 6, who it was understood were in local authority care.

She was believed to have moved to England as a teenager and settled in London with her civil servant father Roderick, mother and brother.

Ms MacClennan married her husband, a Moroccan painter and decorator, Abdel Amzil, at Camden Registry Office in 1994.

The Times newspaper reported that she turned to drugs after the marriage failed and was evicted from a fifth-floor Camden tower block flat last year after a drugs squad raid.

She was also understood to have had several convictions for offences including prostitution.

A neighbour told the paper Ms MacClennan was well spoken but her door had been broken down by police looking for drugs "a couple of times".

The neighbour said it was widely known that "she was on the game".

- NZPA