|
Cops to open old Ipswich cases
21/12/2006 08:25 - (SA)
|
|
|
 |
|
| British police keep watch over the home of an arrested 37-year-old man in Trimley, St Martin, east of Ipswich. (Max Nash, AP) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
London - British police will reportedly re-open unsolved murder cases in the Ipswich area as they continue questioning two suspects in the killings of five prostitutes on Thursday.
Police are under pressure to make quick progress in the interrogations of the men as under English law they have only a few days before they must either charge or release them - by Friday morning in one case, and on Saturday morning in the other.
Meanwhile, it was reported in the British press that police will re-open murder and missing persons cases dating as far back as 1992 after the current probe is concluded, hoping to shed light on previously unsolved crimes.
According to The Daily Telegraph, which cited unidentified police sources, the disappearance and murder of three prostitutes in nearby Norwich, Norfolk county, will be revisited upon the conclusion of the ongoing inquiry in and around the eastern port town of Ipswich.
"Right from the start, people have been comparing the events in Ipswich with those in Norwich several years ago," an unnamed Suffolk county police source was quoted as saying in the newspaper.
"At the moment, though, our task is to solve these dreadful crimes in Ipswich. Once that is done, there will (be) a review to see if anything is relevant to the cases in Norfolk."
'At the moment Wright isn't playing ball...'
The Guardian, and other British newspapers, said that police will be looking into the deaths of Natalie Pearman, 16, who was found strangled in 1992; Michelle Bettles, 22, who was found dead in 2002; and Kellie Pratt, 29, who disappeared in 2000 but whose body has not yet been found.
At the end of Wednesday, police confirmed they had been given another 36 hours to question the second suspect arrested, a 48-year-old man arrested on Tuesday morning near the red light area of Ipswich.
Media have identified the man arrested in the nearby village of Trimley on Monday as Tom Stephens, a 37-year-old supermarket worker and former volunteer police officer, and the other man as truck driver Steve Wright.
A police spokesperson was quoted as saying in The Times: "Both men came to our attention separated but obviously we will be looking to see if there is any connection between them."
Both suspects remained in custody at undisclosed locations in Suffolk county.
According to The Sun, which cited unnamed police sources, Wright was not co-operating fully with the inquiry.
"At the moment Wright isn't playing ball with us. He is exercising his legal right not to answer questions," the source told the tabloid daily.
- AFP
|
