AROUND 500 officers are today involved in the search to find the Suffolk Strangler.In the last two weeks the bodies of five prostitutes have been found dumped in the Suffolk countryside.

AROUND 500 officers are today involved in the search to find the Suffolk Strangler.

In the last two weeks the bodies of five prostitutes have been found dumped in the Suffolk countryside.

Tania Nicol, 19, Gemma Adams, 25, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24 and 29-year-old Annette Nicholls have all died at the hands of a killer or killers stalking the county.

Today Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull once again faced the mass of national and international journalists who have been broadcasting the story across the world.

Det chf supt Gull revealed that yesterday's CCTV pictures of Anneli Alderton on a train from Harwich to Colchester, a week before she was found dead in woodland at Nacton, have now lead to information that she left that train at Manningtree station before possibly boarding the 6.43pm train to Ipswich.

Help from 31 forces from across the country, as far away as Northern Ireland has now been drafted in with specialist officers bringing their expertise to the investigation.

Last night more than 400 motorists and pedestrians were spoken to by police in the Burlington Road and Handford Road areas a week after Miss Clennell was last seen.

At today's conference det chf supt Gull also confirmed that a man who was released on bail following the alleged attempted abduction of a prostitute within the last month has yet to be questioned by police.

As revealed in last week's Evening Star the man from Needham Market had been arrested before the first body of Miss Adams had been found in Hintlesham on Saturday December 2, but both she and Miss Nicol were missing at the time.

Although police had originally stated they had ruled him out of the investigation, det chf supt Gull told reporters no-one has been eliminated from their inquiries and they were still keeping an open mind.

He emphasised that no-one has been arrested or interviewed under caution in connection with the murders.

Police are also still trying to find the clothing of the girls who were all found naked.

Although a team of officers has been dedicated to finding them and nearly 200 calls have been received reporting clothing being found across the country, none has yet been identified as belonging to the murdered women.

Det chf supt Gull said: “We are in the process of recovering and analysing items of clothing and I would like to thank those people who have rung us so far.

“Clearly we are interested in hearing from anyone who finds clothing matching the descriptions we have given.

“I want to take this opportunity to re-issue the description of clothing worn by the four other women when they were last seen, to help the public focus on the items we are looking for.”

Miss Nicol was wearing a light-coloured top, mid blue cut-off jeans and pink, sparkly high-heeled shoes.

Miss Adams was wearing a black waterproof waist-length jacket with a hood and zip up the front, light blue jeans with studs on the pockets, a red top and white and chrome Nike trainers. She was also carrying a black bag.

Miss Clennell was wearing a navy blue anorak with a horizontal light blue hand across the chest and one sleeve, a grey hooded top, light-coloured jeans with a pattern on the pockets and Reebok Classic trainers with a navy blue and light blue/grey flash.

Miss Nicholls was wearing dark grey patterned leggings, calf length boots, a black top with low neckline and a dark-coloured bomber jacket.