Byline: Stephen McGinty
THE discovery of a handbag and items of clothing could bring a breakthrough in the hunt for the serial killer who has murdered five prostitutes in Ipswich.
Articles of clothing, including a leather jacket, were found in the River Orwell, which runs close to Nacton and Levington, where the bodies of three of the murdered women were dumped.
Teams of forensic experts are examining the clothing, along with a handbag, containing underwear, a toothbrush and toothpaste, that was found in central Ipswich late on Wednesday night and handed in to police.
The bag was discovered close to where police recovered a pair of trainers believed to have belonged to the first victim, Gemma Adams, and it will be analysed for DNA evidence. Another pair of trainers has been found behind a petrol station near the red-light district.
The news came as Suffolk Police confirmed yesterday that the fourth victim had been identified as Paula Clennell and that her neck had been "compressed". A post-mortem examination was carried out last night on the fifth victim, believed to be Annette Nicholls, and the results are expected to be announced today.
The investigation team, which has swollen to include 244 officers from nine other police forces, have received more than 5,500 calls to their hotline and more than 1,000 e-mails from members of the public.
LED Light Bulb SP70-5WThere were unconfirmed reports yesterday that police have traced the owner of the blue BMW who reportedly picked up Anneli Alderton, one of the murdered prostitutes who went missing on 3 December, and that they are expected to rule him out of their inquiries.
Detectives learned yesterday that Miss Clennell had been working as a prostitute in Ipswich in the early hours of Sunday morning - she was spotted at 12:20am in Handford Road, near where she lived. A police spokeswoman said Miss Clennell had been seen walking on a pavement, wearing a navy blue Replica Monogram Multicolore anorak with a light blue band across the chest and down one arm, a grey hooded top, light jeans with patterns on a pocket, and Reebok Classic trainers, which were navy with a light blue and grey flash.
The sighting means Miss Clennell was abducted and murdered by a killer who was already aware of the massive media and police presence in the town. Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull, who is leading the investigation, said they still needed specific information, including details of the clothing worn by the murdered women.
"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."
Police are compiling a list of violent former clients of prostitutes and checking the mobile phone records of the victims. Specialist officers are trying to trace their signals and log phone records, which could reveal the women's last moments. One possibility is that the killer lured some victims from the red-light district by arranging meetings with them elsewhere over a mobile
embroidered patches phone.
There have been claims that a text message from Miss Clennell's mobile to a concerned friend on the day she disappeared may have been sent by the killer to buy time.
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