BRITAIN:Police are desperately trying to piece-together the last movements of Paula Clennell (24), identified yesterday as the fourth victim in the Ipswich killings.
The body of the second woman found in woodland at Levington on Tuesday afternoon was finally removed from the site yesterday for a postmortem examination. Police expect it will confirm the body as that of missing Annette Nicholls, aged 29, who is also from Ipswich.
The man heading the search for the killer or killers stalking prostitutes working the town's red light district, Det Chief Supt Stewart Gull, issued an urgent appeal for friends or anyone else who may have seen Paula or heard from her to contact police. She was last seen in the early hours of Sunday working the red light district despite knowing that two other prostitutes had already been murdered.
Detectives were also searching for Ms Clennell's clothes after earlier confirming she had died as a result of her neck being "compressed". Det Chief Supt Gull refused to be more specific about how Ms Clennell died, and declined to say she had been "strangled". Amid revived speculation that the police might now be looking for a "serial strangler", one pathologist told the Press Association compression almost certainly implied strangulation. However, he allowed it could also mean that the dead woman's neck was crushed in other ways.
It emerged yesterday that prostitutes in Ipswich are being given money by police and drug workers to stop them risking their lives by touting for business on the streets. Det Chief Supt Gull urged them to stay off the streets, saying: "It's not safe to engage a client or punter at this time."
He would not say how much money the 30 to 40 women who work in Ipswich were being given, but added that because of the "financial support" there was "no reason to go with clients". The money has been handed over by an unnamed charity to the multiagency group, including police, that oversees community safety in Suffolk.
As another 250 officers were drafted in from nine other forces to assist in the biggest inquiry in the history of the Suffolk constabulary, candles were lit and prayers said in a local church ahead of an annual carol service.
The five candles in St Mary and St Botolph's church in Whitton, Ipswich, were lit by Angela Marjoram from the Mother's Union, who said: "In view of the sad things that have happened in the past few weeks, I think it would be appropriate before we start singing carols to spend a few moments thinking about those girls and their nearest and dearest."
She went on: "We cannot help them physically but we stay close to them in our prayers. Think of their families, their mums, their dads, their grandparents, children and friends. As I light these candles, we will remember Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicolls - God bless them."
There were several reports yesterday that jewellery had been left on the otherwise naked bodies of the victims discovered over an astonishingly short, 10-day period - a possible "trademark" signature of the kind sometimes left by serial killers.
The police have not yet ruled out the possibility that more than one person is involved in the killings, carried out at locations police are still unable to identify.
The details of what the victims were wearing when last seen are vital to the discovery of the actual murder scenes. And Det Chief Supt Gull provided information about the items worn by Ms Clennell last Sunday, including a blue anorak, a grey hooded top, light jeans with patterned pockets and Reebok trainers.
"We need to hear from any friends or anyone else who saw Paula or heard from her," he said: "We also need to find her clothes." Detectives have not yet revealed the cause of deaths of the first two victims, Gemma Adams and Tania Nicol, who were found in the same stream six days apart, and whose naked bodies are thought to have partly deteriorated in the fresh water. A number of items of clothing handed in to police on Wednesday night were also being examined.
Det Chief Supt Gull said toxicology tests should show whether the first two victims had any drugs in their bodies that could have caused their deaths. This led to speculation that the killer might have used drugs to overcome his victims. Police were also trying to establish whether the killer had picked up his victims in the street or whether they might have arranged to meet by telephone.
Suffolk's Deputy Chief Constable Jacqui Cheer admitted the force was "challenged" by the murder inquiry, while insisting it was not affecting other day-to-day policing priorities. She said the investigation had moved forward and that the number of reinforcements from other forces would continue to rise .- (additional reporting Guardian service)