Another Woman Missing In England

Reports Say Police Searching For Another Woman Who Worked In Ipswich As Prostitute

(CBS/AP)  The youngest — 19-year-old Tania Nicol whose body was found in a pond last week — used to frequent the courtyard of the church, where teenagers often gathered late at night. Often, they would find the young woman sitting alone on the church steps, or leaning against the wall of St. Mary and St. Botolph Church, smoking a cigarette, a dazed expression on her face.

A 79-year-old woman came to tend the grave of her dead husband at the church, saying she'd come early to finish scrubbing the tombstone before dusk. "I now go home before it gets dark," said Lily Marsh, as she unwrapped a bag of plastic roses, hurrying to finish before the light began to fade.

Throughout the town, women spoke of how fear clouded their daily routines.

Town authorities organized shuttle services to get women home from the local council offices, and the council's monthly newsletter was publishing a safety message: "Stick Together" — advising all women in the city to stay off the streets alone. Two of the town's largest employers have equipped their female employees with panic alarms.

Late Thursday night, authorities announced they had deployed officers with special equipment to scan license plates. People with previous violations would be stopped.

"When it first started, people were able to detach themselves and say, it's not something that affects me," explained Terry Hunt, editor of the East Anglian Daily Times, one of the dominant newspapers in eastern England.

"But as it accelerated and more bodies were found, people started feeling it does affect me. They began asking, 'Is he after prostitutes? Or is he after women — and prostitutes just happen to be easier prey?"' he said.

The suspected serial killer reminded Britons of the so-called Yorkshire Ripper who killed 13 women over five years in the 1970s. That killing spree prompted comparisons to Jack the Ripper, the notorious Victorian serial killer who murdered at least five East London prostitutes in 1888.

This time, police found the naked bodies of five prostitutes in just 10 days, beginning Dec. 2, when 25-year-old Gemma Adams was found in a stream. Six days later, Tania Nicol was found in a pond.

On Dec. 10, the naked body of 24-year-old Anneli Alderton was spotted in the woods, after initially being mistaken for a discarded mannequin. On Tuesday, two more bodies were found in the bare field near the highway, one of which was identified as Clennell.

Police are combing through more than 5,500 calls received on a hotline and some 1,000 e-mail tips. More than 200 police officers are on the ground, a number expected to swell to 300 by week's end.

The women showed no signs of violent sexual abuse, Gull said. All five, he said, were known drug users, yet their death has been met with sympathy.

Ipswich, about 70 miles northeast of London, used to be a bustling port in the 19th century. There were nearly 40 brothels in the red light district at the time, but these days the prostitutes ply their trade on a quiet road lined by red-brick houses in the shadow of the town's main soccer stadium.

[caldwellptr]

Thank You.

[adian1-2009]

Considerations regarding the moral worth of a prostitute or drug addict, or if prostitution is a profession and has a social value, is not relevant. If we examine dictionaries of the English language, as well as the translation of that word to French or Spanish or Italian, prostitution, which is accepted as having sexual relations for something valuable in exchange, does not fall into the definition of the concept. No doubt that sexual activity must have been the first social activity between humans, this is to mean, between two individuals of the same group, no matter if you believe in Darwin or in the Bible. What is relevant is that under the British system, which we copied, life is inherently valuable, be it the life of a prostitute or of a saint. We all have the right to life once we are born. We do not kill at birth babies born physically or mentally disabled. We do not make an assessment of the worth of their lives. We just love and take care of them. So, these ladies, without taking into account their occupation or addictions, had the right to life. Whoever took their lives is a murderer and must be found and brought to justice.

[caldwellptr]

Is this a debate over prostitution, or is it about murder?

[mygramma]

jimibear and Mormonman1 -- you make a point but it's ignorant and cold. Prostitution is a profession. You may not like it, but many people think working girls perform a necessary service.

In Nevada, where it's legal except in 2 counties, a county attorney once tried to close down the houses of "ill repute." When he took steps to do so, the public ran him out of office. In fact, one famous brothel was taken over by the Internal Revenue Service for tax evasion by the owner. The IRS ran the brothel for a number of years and not long ago finally sold it.

Since when has the condemnation by blue noses like you ever disuaded a prostitute from practicing her profession? Probably never. The profession has been around since mankind populated the earth and will be until we vanish. The deaths ARE a loss to society, the killer needs to be caught, and the families deserve our empathy.

[mormonman1]

Jimibear,
While the sad truth behind things is something we don't like to often hear - you are making an excellent point here. Good work on giving us a real perspective about what we've actually "lost".

[blazercoach1]

I don't know why I'm saying this here...but I have a tremendous gut instinct that the woman they are NOW searching for...IS the killer.

[mrshyatt]

I do not condone what they did for a living and as for the families I'm sure they were heartbroken at the choices these young woman made. But they in no way deserved what they got. the drug addiction is a sickness, they needed help. Not someone saying they are worthless. I understand what your saying but it still seems cold.

[jimibear]

True, MrShyatt. But here's a point: if they had family that craed about them, what were they doing as streetwalking drug addicts?

Who's heartless there?

I was "thinking out loud", I guess. To amplify: people who have multiple *** partners and intravenous drug addicts are the two highest risk categories for AIDS. As such, a heroin-addicted prostitute is a walking landmine of deadly disease. In a societal sense, I ask again: How great is the loss?

Of course the person doing this is a monster na dhas to be stopped. But the little old ladies saying "Poor little girls" and crying over the victims are the same ones who would have condemned them when they were alive, so those are crocodile tears.

I was simply being pragmatic. In the larger scale, the world would probably be better off with fewer professionally promiscuous drug addicts, I think. It's horrible that someone is murdering women, but I find it hard to feel sorry for someone who, according to what she said to reporters, put hooking to feed the monkey on her back ahead of her own safety.

[mrshyatt]

You do sound heartless. They are a loss to their parents, brothers, sisters and every other person that cared about them.

[jimibear]

Not to sound heartless, but if you are a heroin addict and prostitute, how much of a loss are you?

[rsoxfan1123]

sounds like a dangerous line of work.