Detectives investigating the murders of three prostitutes in the Ipswich area are hunting a major serial killer after the discovery of two more bodies yesterday.

Officers were alerted yesterday afternoon by a member of the public.

One body was found near Levington, a village to the south of Ipswich and just a few miles from Suffolk police headquarters. Minutes later a police helicopter spotted a second corpse nearby.

It takes the total of murdered prostitutes to five, all found close to the A14 dual carriageway which links the Suffolk port of Felixstowe with the Midlands.

Suffolk detectives are already investigating the murders of 25 year-old Gemma Adams, whose naked body was found on December 2 on the outskirts of Ipswich; Tania Nicol, 19, who was found in nearby Copdock on December 8, and Anneli Alderton, 24, who was discovered at the weekend in Nacton.