There were dramatic developments in the Ipswich killings last night as police investigating the murders of three prostitutes found the bodies of two more women.
While formal identification will not be possible until later today, the man heading the widening police inquiry, Det Chief Supt Stewart Gull, said "the natural assumption" was that the latest victims were Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls.
Hopes of finding those two missing women had faded quickly after police earlier launched a third murder inquiry, confirming that the woman found in woods near Ipswich on Sunday, Anneli Alderton (24), had been strangled.
Tests have not yet told police whether the first two victims, Gemma Adams (25) and Tania Nicol (19) - whose deaths were formally linked by police at the weekend - died by the same means, or whether any of the dead women had been sexually assaulted. Mr Gull said no more prostitutes had been reported missing from the Ipswich area as he again appealed to street workers to keep off the streets amid a rising sense of alarm among the wider female population. Annette Nicholls gave a television interview just last weekend saying that, while she was apprehensive about continuing to work the streets, she needed the money.
Mr Gull confirmed last night that police had an as yet unconfirmed report that Ms Clennell made a telephone call to a friend on Sunday - suggesting that her killer had struck within the last 24-48 hours.
Yesterday's developments were centred on a woodland area around the village of Levington, near Ipswich, after a passerby reported seeing a body.
The Suffolk police force helicopter was immediately scrambled and a member of the crew then spotted a second body. Police cars moved speedily to close off the area.