Police investigating the suspected murders of two prostitutes have found what they believe to be human remains in the River Aire in Shipley, West Yorkshire.
The discovery was made by police divers at around noon, 200 yards from the spot where the dismembered body parts of a third prostitute, Suzanne Blamires, were found on Tuesday.
Stephen Griffiths, a criminology student, appeared in court yesterday charged with the murder of Ms Blamires and the two other women. Asked to confirm his name, he described himself as “the Crossbow Cannibal”.
Mr Griffiths, a former public schoolboy, appeared on charges linked to the disappearance of three women from Bradford’s red-light district during the past year.Police officers and forensic science experts searching for the missing two were trawling a fast-flowing industrial stream last night less than 400 yards from Mr Griffiths’s home in a block of flats in the red-light area.
A police spokesman said: “At around midday today, officers from West Yorkshire Police’s Underwater Search Unit recovered from the River Aire what are believed to be human remains.
“The remains will now be forensically examined to identify them, and at this stage it is too early to speculate on who the remains belong to.”
A series of drains running from the flats to the stream, known as Bradford Beck, were dug up by police yesterday.
The beck feeds directly into a river three miles away at a spot where dismembered body parts of Ms Blamires were discovered in bin bags and a rucksack four days ago.
She is said to have been murdered last weekend when a crossbow bolt was fired into her head, an act captured by a CCTV camera.
Detectives are investigating whether her killer ate part of her body after chopping it into pieces inside one of the flats. Mr Griffiths’ PhD research at the University of Bradford included an in-depth study of the 1888 Jack the Ripper murders of prostitutes in the East End of London. The mature student has chosen to be defended by the same Bradford law firm that represented Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper.
Relatives of three missing women wept in court yesterday when the alleged serial killer was led into the dock. There were gasps when the court clerk asked him to give his name and he replied: “The Crossbow Cannibal.”
When he was asked for his address, he looked around the court and said: “Here, I guess”.
Hours later the Prime Minister promised to reconsider the laws on prostitution. David Cameron condemned the “truly terrible” killings in Bradford and offered his sympathy to the victims’ families. Asked whether prostitution laws should be reexamined, he said: “I dare say it should be looked at again.”
Prostitution itself is not illegal but there are laws against keeping a brothel, kerb-crawling and soliciting for sex.
Mr Griffiths was remanded in custody until his next appearance in court on June 7.
Source:The times
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