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LONDON - Police hunting a possible serial killer targeting prostitutes said they had found two more bodies today and that they believed five sex workers had now been found dead in the last ten days.
The head of the small local police force said his detectives were facing
an "unprecedented" investigation as they attempted to solve five murders in and around Ipswich.
"I can confirm this afternoon two bodies have been found," said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull.
He said the bodies were probably those of missing prostitutes Paula Clennell, 24, who has not been seen since Sunday, and of 29-year-old Annette Nicholls, who has been missing for at least a week.
"The natural assumption that these are the two missing women Annette Nicholls and Paula Clennell. That's an assumption and that's yet to be confirmed," he told reporters.
The bodies were found in the Nacton area to the east of the town close to where the naked body of Anneli Alderton, 24, was discovered in woodland on Monday.
A walker found the first naked woman's body about 20 feet from a road. Just 40 minutes later, a police helicopter crew member sent to the scene spotted a second body a few hundred yards from the first.
The fast-moving developments and the rapid discovery of so many victims has terrified locals in the town and raised fears that another "Ripper" targeting prostitutes is on the loose.
The most notorious such killer was the 19th century murderer known as "Jack the Ripper", who was blamed for the deaths of five prostitutes in east London in 1888 but was 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.
"No one has ever had to deal with this before," said Alastair McWhirter, chief constable of Suffolk Police.
"If you think back to the Yorkshire Ripper, that was over weeks and months that those murders took place. This is unprecedented and we are dealing with it," he added.
The massive police inquiry began on December 2 when the body of Gemma Adams, 25, was found in a stream in the west of the town. Police divers then discovered 19-year-old Tania Nicol in the same stretch of water on December 8.
Officers are still only officially linking these two murders but say there are similarities with the death of the third prostitute Alderton.
She was found strangled but there were no signs that Adams and Nicol were asphyxiated.
Police have warned prostitutes to stay off the streets and women have been advised not to go out alone.
Earlier today, Gull said he believed sex workers might 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," he said.
- REUTERS