Arrest throws spotlight on other missing women

LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) Today's arrest of a 37-year-old local man on suspicion of murdering five prostitutes in the last weeks in and around Ipswich has focused attention on other unsolved killings and disappearances of women in the area.

In November 1992 prostitute Natalie Pearman went missing as she touted for business in Norwich's red light district, about 40 miles north of Ipswich.

The body of the partially clothed 16-year-old was found in a lay-by just outside Norwich. No one has been charged with her murder despite a widespread investigation that included a number of arrests.

In July 1993 Ipswich prostitute Mandy Duncan went missing although no body has been found.

In 1999 17-year-old sixth-form student Vicky Hall was abducted as she walked home to the Suffolk village of Trimley, a few miles from Ipswich, near to the home of the suspect arrested today.

Trimley is also within a few minutes of the scrubland where the bodies of Clennell and Nicholls were dumped.

Hall's naked body was later found dumped in a water-filled ditch near Stowmarket, 10 miles northeast of Ipswich. She had been suffocated. A man was charged with her murder but acquitted during a 2001 trial.

Norwich prostitute Kellie Pratt has not been seen since going missing in June, 2000.

Prostitute Michelle Bettles' body was found in woodland near Norwich in 2002. No one has been charged with her murder.

REUTERS LL HT1818