Second man arrested by police hunting killer of five prostitutes in UK.
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Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.A Times Online story by Sean
O'Neill at http://www.timesonline.co.uk
Police said a 48-year-old man was arrested at 5 o'clock this morning at his home in Ipswich, less than 24 hours after Tom Stephens, a 37-year-old supermarket worker and friend of all five of the murdered women, was detained at his home near Felixstowe.
Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull announced the latest arrest at a short press conference this morning. He said: "The man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering all five women. He is currently in custody at a police station in Suffolk where he will be questioned about the deaths later today."
Police cordoned off a long stretch of London Road, near Ipswich's red-light district, where a large white tent had been erected outside No 79.
As forensic experts and search teams began the search for evidence, officers loaded a dark blue Ford Mondeo parked outside the bedsit where the suspect was arrested onto a transporter.
Sky News said the man was known to prostitutes in the area as a client. One described him as an "just an ordinary punter".
Unemployed Alfie Smith, 60, said he saw a man being led out of an address in London Road at around 5am.
"I live opposite where the police went to. I saw lots of policemen. They just took this man out and away he went in a car.
"I didn’t see his face - he sort of had his head turned away. The man was just in his night clothes. I just saw all the police and didn’t really know what was going on.
"It was very frightening."
Beni Patel, who owns a B&B opposite the bedsit said she did not know the man who had been arrested.
"They have cordoned the place off and they have been searching it," she said.
"His car has been searched thoroughly and towed. They’ve taken the car, and one lane is closed, cordoned off."
Mr Stephens, a former special constable, remains in custody at a police station in Suffolk, and earlier today a superintendent gave detectives a further 12 hours - until 7:20pm - to interview him. If detectives wish to hold him for longer they will have to apply to a magistrates court. Detectives can interview him for a maximum of 96 hours, until Friday evening.
Forensic scientists are continuing to search his home in Jubilee Close in the village of Trimley St Martin near Felixstowe and the home of his mother, Ellen Kite, in the town of Eye, Suffolk.
Despite the arrest of Mr Stephens early yesterday, police close to the investigation told The Times that they were still looking at five other suspects and that they were no more than 50 per cent sure they had their man.
"Stephens is probably no more than midway on a scale of ten — about four or five," said a senior detective.
It emerged that Mr Stephens was first interviewed by police after only one woman had disappeared. Police have spoken to him three times since and his home and car had been searched. But no charges were brought against Mr Stephens, who knew all the victims and used to drive them to meet their drug dealers.
He was arrested the day after giving a lengthy newspaper interview, in which he said he knew all the dead women, that they trusted him and sometimes spent the night at his house. He said he had no alibis for the times of their disappearances and expected to be arrested before being released without charge.
Press reports today claimed that the five victims -- Tania Nicol, 19, Gemma Adams, 25, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29 -- were among eight women invited to a party at Mr Stephens's house just three weeks before the first, Ms Nicol, went missing.
The Daily Mirror reported that police were keen to question all those who attended the housewarming party and that at least one other man questioned in relation to the murders was invited.
Mr Stephens worked at a Tesco store at Martlesham Heath, beside Suffolk Constabulary headquarters, and was a part-time taxi driver. His car was taken away for examination and search teams spent the day removing materials from his semidetached home.
Mr Stephens was born in Ipswich but grew up in Norwich, where he was a special constable with the Norfolk force in 1992-97. He married in February 1998 and lived in Ipswich with his wife Judith, a nurse. They separated in 2003 and about 18 months ago Mr Stephens began to use the services of prostitutes in the Ipswich red-light area.
One neighbour said: "She is feeling low. She’s told me she will not be coming home for the foreseeable future."
In a newspaper interview, Mr Stephens said "I know that I’m innocent" and claimed the women "trusted me so much".
Mr Stephens described himself as "sad and lonely" and said he had made "compromises on my morals" to visit the red light district.
A bunch of flowers was left on a lamppost in the red light area of Ipswich earlier this week.
The message read: "Tania, Gemma, Netty, Paula, Annie, I knew some of you better than others but I miss you all."
The message was signed off with a kiss and the name "Tom". It is not known whether the flowers were left by Mr Stephens.
Stephens’s father Douglas, who now lives in the village of Isham, near Kettering, Northants, said last night: "I have heard what is being said on the news and all I am prepared to say is that Tom Stephens is my son.
"I have no more information and I have nothing to say."
Expat
Village is edited and published by Iain Williams in Caracas, Venezuela.
© Copyright 2003 by Expat-Village.com
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