Five women are now believed to have been killed by Britain's worst serial killer of prostitutes since the Yorkshire Ripper after the discovery of two further bodies.

Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull, leading the investigation, said tonight that the bodies of two women were found this afternoon in woodland near Ipswich after a tip-off from a passer-by.

"The natural assumption is that these are the two missing women," he said, referring to Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls, two prostitutes who had been reported missing.

Just days ago Ms Clennell, knowing that a serial killer was on the loose, said in a television interview that she intended to go back on the streets because she needed the money.

She has not been seen since Saturday night.

Speaking at a news conference at Suffolk Police headquarters, Mr Gull said that at 3:05pm the police received a tip-off from a member of the public. Officers found the body of a woman 20 feet away from the Old Felixstowe Road near the village of Levington, five miles from Ispwich.

The road was cordoned off and a police helicopter was sent up to film the scene. At 3:48pm, a member of the helicopter crew spotted what appeared to be the body of another woman a few hundred yards away from the first.

Mr Gull said: "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 two missing women, Annette Nicholls, 29, and Paula Clennell, 24. That's an assumption that's yet to be confirmed."

Detectives were unable to confirm whether the two latest bodies were naked, like the three others.

Mr Gull said earlier that a third woman found dead in woods near Ipswich on Sunday, Anneli Alderton, 24, had been strangled.

The other two victims were Gemma Adams, 25, who was found murdered in a stream at Hintlesham on Saturday December 2, and Tania Nicol, 19, who was found dead in a pond at Copdock, Suffolk, the following Friday, December 8.

Police are not yet sure how Ms Adams and Ms Nicol died but Mr Gull confirmed that neither women had been strangled.

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