Race against time as police hunt killer

Police hunting a serial killer who is murdering women at a rate unprecedented in British criminal history urged prostitutes yesterday to stay off the streets.

Five naked bodies have been found near the eastern English port town of Ipswich in the last 11 days, terrifying the community in an area where serious crime is relatively rare.

Detectives have identified three of the dead women as prostitutes. Police said they feared the other two bodies may be sex workers from Ipswich who had been reported missing. Paula Clennell, 24, has not been seen since Saturday and Annette Nicholls, 29, has been missing for at least a week.

"Three of their peers have been murdered, now tragically possibly another two. It's not safe. They need to stay off the streets," Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull told BBC radio.

The discovery of so many victims in so few days has raised fears another "Ripper" targeting prostitutes is on the loose.

The most notorious such killer was the 19th-century murderer known as Jack the Ripper, blamed for the deaths of five prostitutes in east London in 1888 but 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.