Police searching for a missing prostitute yesterday found the naked body of a young woman in a brook downstream from where another vice girl was discovered a week ago.

Amid fears that a serial killer is on the loose, detectives believe that the dead woman is Tania Nicol, 19, who disappeared over a month ago from the red-light district of Ipswich. Police have informed her mother about the discovery and are understood to have told her to “expect the worst”.

The body was found by police divers in Belstead Brook near a public weighbridge at Copdock Mill, near Ipswich. The naked body of her friend Gemma Adams, 25, had been found in the same stream about a mile away at Thorpe’s Hill, Hintlesham.

Detective Chief Inspector John Quinton said it was possible that the second body could have been dumped some distance away and washed downstream by recent flood water. “The brook has been relatively fast flowing and the body could have been carried to this spot from elsewhere,” he said.

Detective Superintendent Andrew Henwood, who is overseeing both cases, said: “We need to take careful consideration of everything before making a considered judgment as to whether the discovery of this body may or may not be linked to Gemma’s murder.”

A post-mortem examination of the second body was due to be carried out last night by a Home Office pathologist. Police have told local prostitutes to “look out for each other” as fears rise that a serial killer is on the loose.

Ms Nicol was reported missing by her mother, Kerry, after she failed to return to her home in Ipswich on October 31. Mrs Nicol later revealed that she had not known that her daughter was working as a prostitute until the police told her.

Ms Adams vanished early on November 15 while in the red-light area around the Ipswich Town football ground. She was reported missing by her boyfriend after she failed to respond to text messages.

Police believe that her body might have been dumped in the water from a bridge on the A1071 road and then washed 200 yards downstream. She was found by a fishery warden who was checking the water for obstructions. A post-mortem examination failed to disclose how she died, but police are treating her death as murder.

The discovery of the second naked body has increased speculation that both women were murdered by the same man. The second body was found by a police diving team brought in to search the brook and other areas of water after the discovery of the first.

Police revealed yesterday they they had found the footwear believed to have been worn by Ms Adams on the night that she vanished. Scientific tests were being carried out on the pair of Nike trainers, which were found in the yard of a tyre and exhaust fitting firm in Norwich Road, Ipswich, about a mile from the red-light area.

Ms Adams worked for an insurance firm until two years ago, but started selling sex on the streets after becoming a heroin addict.

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