A woman leaves flowers in memory of the killer's victims.

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Graphic: where the bodies were discovered

A serial killer murdering women at a rate unprecedented in modern British criminal history was still evading police last night. The discovery of the bodies of two more young prostitutes yesterday, both of whom went missing after Suffolk police started a major murder inquiry, brought the killer’s tally to five.

As most vice girls in Ipswich heeded warnings to stay off the streets, officers said that the murderer may now target women going to night- clubs and parties over Christmas.

The bodies found yesterday by a walker on wasteland near the village of Levington, Suffolk, are assumed to be those of sex workers Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29, who both went missing less than ten days ago.

Ms Clennell gave a television interview a week ago in which she said she knew the risks of her trade, but “she needed the money”.

The disappearances of the first two victims occurred over more than a fortnight. But after their bodies were found and the attendant publicity, the killer has accelerated dramatically the speed at which he is taking lives.

Alastair McWhirter, the Suffolk Chief Constable, insisted that his officers were not overstretched. “This is an unprecedented inquiry. With the Yorkshire Ripper you are talking about murders committed over years. We are dealing with this,” he said.

A few hours before yesterday’s discovery it was confirmed that the remains of a woman found in woods at nearby Nacton on Sunday were those of Anneli Alderton, 24.

Maire Alderton, her mother, told The Times that she had been left to care for her daughter’s four-year old son, Freddy. “She was a lovely, bright girl, she knew Greek and I just loved her so much,” said Mrs Alderton, from Harwich, Essex.

Dressed in black and speaking through tears, she said: “I am holding things together and trying to grieve for her as well as looking after her boy.”

The three women join Gemma Adams, 25, and Tania Nicol, 19, on the list of the murderer’s victims. They had disappeared from the Ipswich red-light district in October and November and their bodies were found in the same stream earlier this month.

Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull, the head of the investigation, was shaking as he announced at Suffolk police headquarters the discovery of two more bodies. “We don’t have a great deal of information but because of the discovery of two further bodies, close to where the body of Anneli Alderton was found, we can only fear the worst.

“The natural assumption is that these are the bodies of the two missing women Annette Nicholls and Paula Clennell.”

Suffolk has a force of only 1,300 officers and has asked, through the Association of Chief Police Officers, for expert intelligence and investigatory help. Officers have also been seconded to the inquiry from the Essex and Norfolk forces.

Though the victims have been killed in different ways — Ms Alderton was strangled but the bodies of Ms Adams and Ms Nicol have no signs of physical trauma — there is little doubt remaining that a serial killer is at large.The bodies have all been dumped close to the A12 and A14 to the south of Ipswich. There was speculation last night that the killer may have held onto the bodies of the women before dumping them.

The discovery of two bodies yesterday came after a man walking on Old Felixstowe Road called police to say he had seen a naked woman’s body close to the road. A police helicopter flew to the scene and 40 minutes later a member of the helicopter crew spotted the second body a few hundred yards away.

Police said they were anxious to trace a male friend of Ms Clennell who was said to have called her mother on Sunday to say he had spoken to her.

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