Serpo
27th May 2010, 02:42 AM
Crime student held in 'new Ripper' case
AAP May 27, 2010, 5:22 pm
A crime student studying serial killers is being linked to the murders of three women in Bradford - home of the infamous Yorkshire Ripper.
British media reports on Thursday came as detectives continued to question a 40-year-old man on suspicion of murdering three prostitutes, and police were expected to identify another woman whose remains were found in a Yorkshire river.
The man was arrested after CCTV footage emerged of a woman being executed with a crossbow outside a flat in Bradford, the Sun reported on Thursday.
The suspect was grabbed by armed police after a caretaker discovered horrific CCTV film of a woman being shot in the head with a crossbow, the Sun reported.
West Yorkshire Police said a 40-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of the murders of missing Bradford sex workers Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage and Susan Rushworth.
The remains of the another woman were discovered by a member of the public in the River Aire, in Shipley, West Yorkshire, on Tuesday afternoon.
It is understood that a severed head was discovered in a rucksack, London's Daily Telegraph reported on its website.
The suspect, who has been named in media reports as Stephen Griffiths, is understood to be studying at the University of Bradford, where he is specialising in homicide studies, the Times reported on its website. He has a degree in psychology.
A former neighbour said Griffiths had told her he was doing a PhD in murder and Jack the Ripper, the Times said.
According to The Sun, he wrote about notorious serial killers on a social networking site under the name Ven Pariah.
Separate searches for all the missing women had been continuing throughout Bradford but until Wednesday police refused to link them, the Telegraph reported.
Blamires, 36, went missing on Friday, while Armitage, 31, has been missing since April 26. Rushworth, 43, has been missing since June 22 last year.
Police have been granted extra time, until Thursday evening, to question Griffiths, who was arrested on Monday.
Media reports said investigators were probing three more unsolved murders possibly linked to the case, but police said there was no evidence to suggest any links with other missing person cases or outstanding murder inquiries, the Press Association news agency reported.
The case has evoked memories of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, who stalked Bradford's red light district in the late 1970s.
He was convicted in 1981 of 13 murders and seven attempted murders of women, mainly prostitutes, and killed three of his victims in the city.
He remains in custody.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/7304707/crime-student-held-in-new-ripper-case/
AAP May 27, 2010, 5:22 pm
A crime student studying serial killers is being linked to the murders of three women in Bradford - home of the infamous Yorkshire Ripper.
British media reports on Thursday came as detectives continued to question a 40-year-old man on suspicion of murdering three prostitutes, and police were expected to identify another woman whose remains were found in a Yorkshire river.
The man was arrested after CCTV footage emerged of a woman being executed with a crossbow outside a flat in Bradford, the Sun reported on Thursday.
The suspect was grabbed by armed police after a caretaker discovered horrific CCTV film of a woman being shot in the head with a crossbow, the Sun reported.
West Yorkshire Police said a 40-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of the murders of missing Bradford sex workers Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage and Susan Rushworth.
The remains of the another woman were discovered by a member of the public in the River Aire, in Shipley, West Yorkshire, on Tuesday afternoon.
It is understood that a severed head was discovered in a rucksack, London's Daily Telegraph reported on its website.
The suspect, who has been named in media reports as Stephen Griffiths, is understood to be studying at the University of Bradford, where he is specialising in homicide studies, the Times reported on its website. He has a degree in psychology.
A former neighbour said Griffiths had told her he was doing a PhD in murder and Jack the Ripper, the Times said.
According to The Sun, he wrote about notorious serial killers on a social networking site under the name Ven Pariah.
Separate searches for all the missing women had been continuing throughout Bradford but until Wednesday police refused to link them, the Telegraph reported.
Blamires, 36, went missing on Friday, while Armitage, 31, has been missing since April 26. Rushworth, 43, has been missing since June 22 last year.
Police have been granted extra time, until Thursday evening, to question Griffiths, who was arrested on Monday.
Media reports said investigators were probing three more unsolved murders possibly linked to the case, but police said there was no evidence to suggest any links with other missing person cases or outstanding murder inquiries, the Press Association news agency reported.
The case has evoked memories of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, who stalked Bradford's red light district in the late 1970s.
He was convicted in 1981 of 13 murders and seven attempted murders of women, mainly prostitutes, and killed three of his victims in the city.
He remains in custody.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/7304707/crime-student-held-in-new-ripper-case/