British police arrest man over prostitute murders

TRIMLEY ST. MARTIN, England, Dec 18 (Reuters) Police arrested a 37-year-old man today on suspicion of murdering five prostitutes in one of Britain's most dramatic serial killings.

The naked bodies of five women were found dumped in the countryside near Ipswich, eastern England, over a period of 11 days this month, dominating headlines and evoking memories of the 19th-century prostitute killer Jack the Ripper.

''He has been arrested on suspicion of murdering all five women -- Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls,'' Police Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull told a news conference.

Gull said the man lived in the village of Trimley St.

Martin, near Felixstowe, a port town about 19km southeast of Ipswich. He was arrested at 7:20 a m (12.50 ist) and is in police custody awaiting questioning.

British media said the arrested man was supermarket worker Tom Stephens, but police declined to confirm that name.

Police cordoned off Stephens' house in the village and erected a white tent next to the entrance to shield items removed from the view of curious onlookers and reporters.

Stephens, 37, gave a lengthy interview to the Sunday Mirror newspaper at the weekend in which he said he feared he could be arrested as he had known all the prostitutes and had no alibis.

But he strenuously denied any involvement in the deaths.

He told the BBC last week he paid for sex, ''but I know that I also wanted to chat to the girl, before and after which is partly why I was always happy to give them a lift. They quite often want a lift to go and get their drugs.'' Stephens has published pictures of himself on a personal Web site, where he calls himself ''The Bishop'' and lists his interests as ''keeping fit'' and ''most types of day/night out''.

Gull said the police would no longer comment on the case.

''As legal proceedings are now active, Suffolk Police will not be issuing any further comment or appeals at this stage.'' HISTORICAL ECHOES The case evokes that of Jack the Ripper, who killed five prostitutes, but was never found, and Peter Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper, who killed 13 women, mainly prostitutes, in northern England between 1975 and 1980.

The investigation began on December 2 when 25-year-old Adams's body was found in a stream. Police discovered 19-year-old Nicol's body in the same stream on December 8.

Alderton, 24, who was three months pregnant, was asphyxiated and Clennell, 24, was killed by ''compression to the neck'', police said. Nicholls, 29, was the fifth victim.

Sex workers have been urged to stay off the streets but some are ignoring warnings and still working, many to feed drug addictions. The five dead women were all drug users.

Prostitution is legal in Britain but advertising sexual services, streetwalking, brothels and kerb crawling -- driving slowly to ask women for sex -- are all against the law.

The case has sparked calls for better protection for prostitutes, or the legalisation of brothels so that women do not have to solicit for sex on the street.

REUTERS AB KP2345