Ipswich Victim Asphyxiated (Serial Killer Fears)

[Rasputin]

The third prostitute found dead near Ipswich was murdered by asphyxiation and "probably strangled", Suffolk police said today.
Police named her as 24-year-old Anneli Alderton, of Colchester, Essex. The cause of her death was revealed after the completion of a post-mortem examination by a Home Office pathologist last night.

Post-mortems on Tania Nicol, 19, and 25-year-old Gemma Adams - the women whose bodies were the first two to be found - were inconclusive, and further tests were being carried out.

Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull told a news conference there were no signs that either had died of asphyxiation, saying there appeared "to be different causes of death".
He said officers were investigating the possibility that the three women had been poisoned. "We are doing toxicology tests, along with a number of other clinical and scientific analyses following the post-mortems, and we will do the same with the latest victim," he added.

Mr Gull said the three women could have been killed by the same person, but stressed he was not using the phrase "serial killer". "I have emphasised throughout we are not necessarily looking for one killer - there may be more," he said. "We have got to keep an open mind."

He added it was possible that DNA from the killer or killers could be retrieved from Ms Alderton's body.

In a direct appeal to the killer or killers, he said: "Make contact with Suffolk police. Clearly you have a significant problem. Give me a call and we can deal with this. My appeal is simple - give yourself up."

Mr Gull told the press conference that the first two murders had been linked, but the killing of Ms Alderton had not been formally linked to them. However, he said this could change.

"It is too early ... Anneli Alderton has only just undergone a post-mortem," he said. "Clearly, there are similarities ... these are women who were working as prostitutes in Ipswich."

He said Suffolk police continued to have "grave concerns" for two missing women who also worked in the "tightly knit" community of sex workers in the town - Paula Clennell, aged 24, and 29-year-old Annette Nicholls.

The pair have not contacted police despite urgent appeals for them to do so. "There have been other girls reported as missing who have subsequently been found," Mr Gull said. "I hope Paula and Annette are just lying low for whatever reason."

Detectives today formally announced a murder investigation into Ms Alderton's death. Her body was found on Sunday afternoon in a woodland close to Nacton, near Ipswich, after a passing motorist saw a naked body.

Mr Gull said the killer or killers had probably moved the body to the area, but it was not known at this stage whether she had been sexually assaulted.

She had caught the 5.53pm train from Harwich to Colchester on December 3, but there were no known sightings of her after that. Another passing motorist could have seen her body at 10.30am on Thursday, but mistakenly believed it to be an abandoned mannequin.

He reiterated that there were no signs of significant trauma to the bodies of either Ms Nicol or Ms Adams, and said neither appeared to have been subjected to a serious sexual assault.

Mr Gull told the press conference that the two women definitely knew each other, adding it was likely that Ms Alderton knew the other two murder victims.

Suffolk police have received more than 450 calls from the public about the deaths, with around 25 being made on a dedicated line set up for prostitutes working in the county.

"I have been very pleased with the response to our appeal so far," Mr Gull said. "I would ask anyone with information to come forward as a matter of urgency."

Suffolk police is a relatively small force, and questions have been asked about whether it is able to cope with an inquiry of this scale. Mr Gull said more than 100 staff were working on the murders, with extra officers being drafted in from Essex today.

He added that police were looking at "a number of interesting individuals", and that officers were carrying out searches in different parts of Suffolk. However, he stressed the killer or killers could be from outside the county.

Mr Gull appealed to men who had recently been clients of the women to get in touch with officers, and also appealed to prostitutes to contact police. "The perpetrator may be a client, he may be a kerb crawler," he said.

Police have warned all women to stay away from the red light area of Ipswich, and Mr Gull urged women in the town and its surrounding areas to be vigilant.

"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," he said. "Any single woman could potentially be in danger."

[golgol85]

this is sad, its hard to expect to be treated with respect when you have no respect for yourself. When you feel that you need to sell your body, dont expect others to give you respect. There are better ways to make money, maybe not enough to have a nice or lavish lifestyle, but enough to go by. I am saddened that these 3 women had to die such horrible deaths, but in a sense i feel they brought it on themselves when they chose to become prostitutes.

[Rasputin]

Police focus on Ipswich women's last movements

Police investigating the Ipswich murders today appealed to the public for information on when the five female victims, who worked in the town's red light district, were last seen alive.
Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull, who is heading the inquiry, said the bodies had been "dumped and left" at five rural locations, but it was not clear when the women had been killed.

"In each of the three murder inquiries, we have a significant gap between when the women were last seen and the discovery of their bodies," he told a press conference.

"The timeline under which these girls disappeared is crucial for us."
Police yesterday received more than 2,000 calls from members of the public. "The response from the public to our appeals for information has been massive," said Mr Gull. "Our task now is to sift through this vast volume of information to prioritise our inquiries."

A new picture of Anneli Alderton, 24, from Colchester, Essex, was released today in the hope of unearthing more information about the last hours of her life. Her body, the third discovered in a week, was found in woodland on Sunday.

A walker on wasteland near the village of Levington, about five miles south of Ipswich, found two more naked bodies yesterday.

Mr Gull today said he feared they were the remains of Annette Nicholls, 29, and Paula Clennell, 24, but formal identification would not take place until the bodies had been taken to hospital for postmortem examinations.

They are likely to remain where they were found, protected from the elements to preserve evidence, until later today.

Ms Clennell and Ms Nichols were reported missing earlier this week after the discoveries of the naked bodies of Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, and Ms Alderton in woods and a stream.

Ms Alderton had been strangled but the bodies of Ms Adams and Ms Nicol showed no sign of physical trauma. The preliminary findings for their causes of death were inconclusive and further tests were being carried out.

Ms Clennell gave a television interview a week ago in which she said the murders had made her "a bit wary of getting into cars", but she would probably continue to do so because she needed the money.

Police said that during the night they had received three more reports of missing prostitutes, but all had been traced and found to be safe and well.

Mr Gull said it was important that if anyone had concerns for the safety of a woman working as a prostitute in Ipswich that they contact police immediately.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Is Vicky another victim of Ipswich 'River Ripper'?

The mother of a prostitute murdered six years ago today spoke of her fears that her daughter could be a victim of the Ipswich serial killer.

Vicky Glass was last seen leaving a pub in Middlesbrough town centre in September 2000.

Her naked and badly decomposed body was found dumped in a stream on bleak moorland on the outs***ts of Danby, North Yorkshire, the following November.

Vicky's clothing and possessions have never been found.

The tragic 21-year-old had turned to prostitution to feed her crippling addiction to heroin.

The hunt for Vicky's killer still goes on and Cleveland Police detectives are probing links with the deaths in Ipswich.

And despite two arrests, no-one has been charged with her murder.

Today, Debbie Goodall spoke of how the killings in Ipswich have brought the memories of her daughter's death flooding back.

"The news of the killings in Ipswich came as a shock and it made me feel sick to my stomach. I cried as I watched the news and kept thinking of Vicky," the grandmother said.

"It brought everything back to me because everything is so similar to the way Vicky was found.

"Vicky's death haunts me every day. You gain an inner strength to go on but I think about her every day and I will do until I die.

"As I watched I thought: 'Is the same person who killed Vicky responsible? Could he have moved? Is he travelling from one area to another?'

"I know how the families of those girls are feeling now and my heart goes out to them. I'm thinking of them and I just hope they get strength to carry on."

Mrs Goodall also warned of the dangers of hard drugs and the desperate spiral some young women could find themselves in.

"These girls, like Vicky, were brought down by drugs. It decimates lives," she said. "One minute they are happy young women and the next they are dragged down. It devastates everyone.

"With drugs you are fighting evil. It gets a hold on people. Vicky was brought up on love as no doubt were these other girls.

"We did everything we could and the parents and families of these girls will have done too. But Vicky was so trusting and she got in with the wrong crowd.

"It's a lonely life for girls who are driven onto the street by the need to fund their habit - and that makes them vulnerable." She continued: "I don't think of Vicky as a prostitute - and the parents of the girls killed in Ipswich will be the same. They will think of them as daughters, sisters, nieces and granddaughters.

"Those memories will be precious and it is something to hold on to over the years.

"It gives you strength and for me it feeds the hope that I have one day to see Vicky's killer in court.

"I want to see his face and to see justice be done. He has got away with this for six years but I hope that someone's conscience will have been pricked by these terrible events in Ipswich and they will come forward.

"Even after all this time I believe there is someone out there who knows what happened and I say to them: 'Please, please speak to the police.'

"I am serving a life sentence. Vicky's death is something that will not go away but my hope is to see her killer in court before I die. That hope keeps me focussed. It may take years but I have got to think it will happen tomorrow.

"But in the meantime I'm thinking of those poor girls in Ipswich - and what their families are going through. No one knows that unless it has happened to them."

A Cleveland Police spokesman said: "As a matter of course we always liaise with senior investigating officers from other forces dealing with crimes that may mirror outstanding offences in Cleveland.

"We will be speaking with Suffolk to see if there are any links with the death of Vicky Glass."

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

THE five victims of the Ipswich Ripper were all suffocated or strangled and left naked but for their jewellery, it was reported today.

It is understood that the distinctive traits of the murders have led police to rule out the possibility that he has struck before.

That includes the 1992 murder of Natalie Pearman in nearby Norwich, whose mother Lin was reported today to have been contacted by police.

Police confirmed today that the fourth woman found died as a result of "compression to the neck".

They were also investigating the discovery today of a Reebok trainer near one of the scenes, and were continuing to investigate if a jacket dragged from the River Orwell and a handbag are significant.

The finds came as police sources revealed there were "striking similarities" between the victims who have been left naked and strangled or suffocated.

Detectives are believed to be hunting a dark-haired chubby man, with glasses, who was seen picking up 24-year-old Anneli Alderton in a blue BMW.

She became the third victim when her body was discovered on December 10. Police believe the man could hold vital information about the murders.

Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull was today asked whether officers were "eager to speak" to the driver of that car.

He replied: "We are still trying to piece together Anneli's last movements."

"We have received a significant volume of calls from across Suffolk and further afield and a lot of interesting information has come in. That is just one aspect we are looking at."

Mr Gull said detectives were not specifically linking the deaths of the five women to any previous killings or disappearances of prostitutes in East Anglia or in other parts of the UK.

"We are clearly aware of a number of other crimes," he said. "We will look at any similarities but at the moment our focus is here in Suffolk and on the crimes we are currently dealing with.

"We are not at this stage linking these murders to anything else."

Mr Gull also said detectives were not "at this stage" attaching any significance to any items of women's clothing handed in to police in recent days.

"We need to find the clothes the murdered women were wearing and we have appealed for help with that," he said.

"We have received a number of items of clothing, but we have not yet established exactly what the girls were last wearing.

"Whatever clothing we have received has been seized and will be assessed in due course."

The fifth body - believed to be that of either Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls - was due to be examined by a pathologist today.

DCS Gull said officers were pursuing a "significant number of interesting leads", although forensic work is still at an early stage.

They include the theory the culprit is either a visitor to the area or has been working temporarily in Suffolk.

They believe he may well have a good grasp of forensics as he dumped two of his victims' bodies in water, destroying DNA evidence, and stripped them of their clothes.

Detectives also believe the killer is more familiar with the area where he left the first two bodies, to the west of Ipswich, than the east where the other three were found.

Crucially, the two sites are linked by the main A14 road, which the Ripper may well have used. Police have been trawling through CCTV footage of the A14 which also runs close to Ipswich's red light district.

They have received more than 4000 calls in two days from members of the public desperate to help catch the killer.

The investigation has become the biggest in Suffolk's history. Specialists from other forces have been drafted in to help.

[Rasputin]

British prostitutes get help as police hunt killer

IPSWICH (Reuters) - Prostitutes in eastern England are being offered financial help to stay off the streets as police step up their hunt for a serial killer feared to have murdered five prostitutes, officials said on Friday.

Some prostitutes have ignored police warnings and carried on working, many to feed drug habits, despite the discovery of five bodies in less than two weeks near the port of Ipswich.

Local government workers are handing out food vouchers, mobile phone credit and the heroin replacement drug methadone to encourage them to stay at home. They will also be given advice on claiming state benefits and housing allowances.

"It's not physical cash," said a local government spokeswoman. "It's about making sure that we're doing everything we can so they don't have to go on the streets."

Police identified the fifth victim on Friday and said all five murders were linked. No one has yet been arrested or questioned as a suspect, but police were seeking a number of people to help with their enquiries,

"We know they were all working girls, they knew one another. I think there is likely to be some crossover as far as clients are concerned," said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull. "There are a number of people of interest to us."

But as police drafted in hundreds of extra officers to help hunt for the killer, prostitutes in Ipswich told how their drug addiction drove them to ignore the risks.
"I'll be dead in 10 years' time anyway," 25-year-old Suzanne told the Daily Mail. "Whether it is through drugs, or at the hands of some sicko, well, it doesn't make much difference. If it happens, it happens."

SUFFOLK STRANGLER

Experts were carrying out toxicology tests on the bodies of two of the victims, Gemma Adams, 25, and Tania Nicol, 19, to see if they were drugged before they were killed, police said, but the test results will not be known for weeks.

"We know these were all drug users, poly drug users, so we need to keep an open mind," Gull told a news conference.

The women may have been drugged, media said, because their bodies showed no obvious signs of injury or struggle.

"There is no significant trauma on any of the five girls, none of them appear to have been subject to serious sexual assault," Gull said. "We know these are working girls; they get into cars voluntarily, that is the nature of their work."

All five were found dumped naked in countryside around Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk, three of them wearing jewelry.

The murderer has been dubbed the Suffolk Strangler, although the precise way all the women died is yet to be established.

Anneli Alderton, 24, was strangled and Paula Clennell, also 24, was killed by "compression to the neck", detectives said.

The fifth victim was identified as Annette Nicholls, 29, last seen on December 5, but a post-mortem was inconclusive.

[Rasputin]

UK police: Ipswich murder victims drugged?

British police authorities say the five young women found dead and naked near the town of Ipswich may have been drugged before they were murdered because their bodies show no signs of struggle.

But Suffolk police spokeswoman Sandra Graffham said it may be difficult to determine what drug, if any, was administered and how.

"The fact that they were drug users will make the work more complicated" for forensic experts, said Graffham.

The fifth victim was identified Friday as Annette Nicholls, 29, but a coroner was unable to say what caused her death. All five victims were found over 10 days just miles apart in and around Ipswich.

One of the women died from asphyxiation, and another died from what a coroner called "compression to the neck." The causes of death for the two others are unclear because their bodies were found in water.

Forensic psychologists have wondered if the killer lured and then anesthetized the women with drugs. None of the bodies showed signs of significant trauma or sexual assault.

Police said it will take several days to complete toxicology reports that could determine whether the women had been drugged or the level of previous drug use.

James Alan Fox, a psychology professor at Northeastern University in Boston and author of several books on serial killers, said the killer may have pretension of being God.

"It may be this person gets a real charge out of playing God but doesn't necessarily relish hearing the screams of his victims," Fox explained. "Drugging them would have also made it easier on him -- psychologically -- to abduct them, kill them and dispose of their bodies.

"Some serial killers feel it is their self-appointed task to rid the streets of prostitutes, and in a case like this, you wouldn't necessarily see any sexual molestation," he added. "It could also explain why he might have drugged them."

Forensic psychologist Kevin Dominic Browne, whose center in Birmingham has studied serial killers, said the killer may have drugged his victims to ensure he had power over them.

He said these types of killers often have been abused themselves or have suffered trauma associated with sexual intimacy.

Experts said serial killers usually enjoy the physical sensation of killing, preferring strangulation or bludgeoning to guns and other weapons.

The first woman found was Gemma Adams, 25. She was discovered in a stream Dec. 2. She grew up in the Ipswich area and became addicted to heroin after leaving a job at an insurance company. Her boyfriend reported her missing Nov. 15.

The naked body of 24-year-old Anneli Alderton was located in the woods Sunday, after initially being mistaken for a discarded mannequin. Police said it appeared that she had been strangled.

The body of Tania Nicol, 19, a trainee beautician, was found in a pond. She was brought up in a poor section of town and was reported missing Nov. 1.

The body of Paula Clennell, 24, who told reporters days before her death that she was afraid but needed to return to the streets to support her heroin habit, was identified by police Thursday. Authorities said she died of "compression to the neck."

Nicol's family spoke emotionally of their daughter Friday, saying her life had taken a downward spiral after she became hooked on heroin.

"Tania has been taken by someone who needs to be found," said her father, Jim Duell, who was joined by Nicol's mother, Kerry Nicol. "Tania was a lovely daughter -- she was a caring, loving, sensitive girl who would never hurt anyone."

[Rasputin]

Ipswich murders: Police have suspect list

Police officers investigating the death of five prostitutes in the Suffolk area now have a list of possible suspects for the crimes.

The list is said to contain lower than 50 names, with police looking into several key suspects from this list.

'We have got a range of individuals who have been suggested to us. Some are local but some are not. Some are not punters,' said detective chief superintendent Stewart Gull.

Police have been making headway on the investigation following the formal identification and autopsy of the fifth victim. The results revealed that all victims were killed in the same manner.

Mr Gull told a news conference that the murders were most probably done by a single person due to the similarities. Investigations on the five murdered women found that none of the women were sexually assaulted prior to being killed and none showed signs of struggling with the perpetrator.

All victims were found naked.

The list of suspects in the string of murders is said to include sex offenders, those that are known by police to frequent prostitutes in the Ipswich area and those involved in the drugs trade.

Anneli Alderton, 24, Gemma Adams, 25, Paula Clennell, 24, Tania Nicol, 19, and Annette Nicholls, 29, have all been formally identified as the victims of the serial killer.

[Rasputin]

Scores of drivers stopped in Ipswich red light area

Police stopped and questioned scores of drivers in the red light area of Ipswich tonight, trying to establish more detail about the last movements of murdered prostitute Paula Clennell.

Officers were stopping motorists in Handford Road where Miss Clennell, 24, was thought to have been working a week ago.

Police were asking drivers whether they had been in the area either late on Saturday December 9 or early on Sunday December 10.

They say that is the last known sighting of Miss Clennell, whose naked body was found in woodland at nearby Levington on Tuesday December 12.

Detectives say she chose to walk the streets despite knowing that two prostitutes had already been murdered.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

پخش نوار تلويزيونی آخرين دقايق زندگی يکی از 5 قربانی اخير انگلستان، افکار عمومی مردم انگليس را بيش از پيش متاثر و مشوب کرده است. اين فيلم که يکی از تصاوير آن در اين صفحه ديده ميشود آنلی آلدرتون را که سه ماهه حامله هم بوده است، در سوم دسامبر در يک قطارخالی شهری نشان ميدهد. جسد او هفته پيش پيدا شد. در انگلستان در هرچند ماه يک زن تن فروش به قتل ميرسد. قتل های اخير به اين بحث دامن زده است که آيا سياست دولت تونی بلر در " تحمل صفر" نسبت به تن فروشان در افزايش خطر برای آن ها موثر نبوده است.

در سوی ديگر عده ای از سياست "ليبراليزه کردن" تن فروشی به شيوه آلمان دفاع ميکنند. سوئدی ها راه سومی را در پيش گرفته اند و مردانی را که به خريد سکس روی می آورند مجرم شناخته و مجازات ميکنند نه زنان را. به نوشته اينديپندنت در جريان تحقيقات اخير معلوم شده يک افسر ارشد پليس مشتری يکی از زنان قربانی بوده است.اين زن که پائولا کلنل نام داشت قبل از اين که به قتل برسد در بازجويی پليس اين امر را افشا کرده بود. اين خبر را نيوز آو ورلدز پخش کرده و مقامات پليس در مورد آن اظهار نظر نکرده اند.قربانيان جنايت اخير عبارت بودند نيکول دوئل 19 ساله، گما آدامس 25 سال، آنلی الدرتن 24 سال، آنت نيکولز 29 سال و پائولا کلنل 24 سال.

[Rasputin]

Police Arrest 37 Year Old Man Over Ipswich Murders

British police arrested a 37-year-old man on Monday on suspicion of murdering the five prostitutes who were found dead in the countryside near Ipswich in Eastern England over a 10-day span beginning Dec. 2. Paula Clennell, 24, died of compression to her neck, and Annette Alderton, 24, was strangled, a senior pathologist determined, but he couldn't determine yet how the other three were killed.

The five killings have prompted a murder investigation on a scale unprecedented in recent British history.

The Government should consider making paying for sex a crime, Minister for Constitutional Affairs Harriet Harman said today. "I think we should be saying we don't want this sort of organized crime in our country," she told BBC. Others want legal mini-brothels so hookers aren't exposed to the dangers of the street.

"He has been arrested on suspicion of murdering all five women -- Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls," Police Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull told the press in a news conference. The man lived in Felixstowe, a port town about 12 miles (19km) southeast of Ipswich. He was arrested at 7:20 a.m. and is in police custody awaiting questioning, reports Reuters.

A man, Tom Stephens, 37, gave a lengthy interview to the Sunday Mirror newspaper at the weekend in which he said he feared he could be arrested as he had known all the prostitutes and had no alibis. But he strenuously denied any involvement in the deaths. It is uncertain he is the one arrested, but it's highly likely.

Stephens had given several media interviews before his arrest in which he admitted knowing some of the victims and denied killing them. "They would often want a lift to get their drugs and that's how it developed into a friendship," he told BBC.

The bodies of the five known hookers were found in rural locations close to a main road, the A14. All the victims were also drug users. They were all naked, though three didn't have their jewelry removed. None of them appeared to have been seriously sexually assaulted, nor were there significant signs of struggle, according to police. Anneli Alderton, 24, who was three months pregnant when she was asphyxiated.

The case evokes that of Jack the Ripper, who was never found, and Peter Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper, who killed 13 women, mainly prostitutes, in northern England between 1975 and 1980. In England prostitution is not illegal in itself, but many of the associated actions are: soliciting in a public place and living off immoral earnings, among others.

[Rasputin]

Ipswich probe: 'Significant' arrest

A second man is being questioned over the murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich, in a move police sources described as "significant".

The 48-year-old man - named locally as Steve Wright - was arrested at his home in the centre of Ipswich near the red light district early on Tuesday morning. On Monday a 37-year-old man - named by sources as supermarket worker Tom Stephens - was arrested at his home in Trimley St Martin.

Detectives said both men were being questioned on suspicion of murdering Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29.

Detectives said a magistrate had given them a further 36 hours to continue questioning the man arrested in Trimley St Martin on Monday.

Police have until around 5am on Wednesday to question the latest man arrested - then they must ask a senior officer for permission to hold him for a further 12 hours.

Forensic officers and search teams spent the day at both addresses. Police cordoned off part of a road in central Ipswich around where Wright lives.

Friends said Wright had moved to central Ipswich from another address in Ipswich a few months ago.

The bodies of the five women were found during a 10-day spell near villages south of Ipswich earlier this month. All were naked - although police said they had not been sexually assaulted.

Officers said Miss Alderton had been strangled and Miss Clennell had died as a result of "compression" to the neck. The causes of death were unclear for the other three women and toxicology tests were being carried out, they said.

News of the second arrest was announced earlier by Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Gull, who is leading the investigation. Suffolk Police refused to confirm the identities of either of the men in custody.