2006: Ipswich victims
Ipswich is a town in the Suffolk region, about 100 kilometres northeast of London.
Gemma Adams, 25, body was found Dec. 2 2006 in a pond
Tania Nicol, 19, body was found on Dec. 8 in a stream
Anneli Alderton, 24, body was found on Dec. 10 in a forest
Annette Nicholls, 29, body was found on Dec. 12, eight kilometres from town
Paula Clennell, 24, body was found on Dec. 12, eight kilometres from town
From the Brides in the Bath Murderer and Jack the Ripper to the Gay Slayer and the Angel of Mercy, the United Kingdom has a long history of nicknamed serial murderers. Here's a list of some of the more infamous ones.
The Ipswich Ripper is thought to be responsible for five deaths in late 2006. Police are also reviewing cold cases from the past 10 years, examining unsolved murders. At least four of them are believed to involve prostitutes from the area.
Anthony Hardy was convicted of murdering three women in London in 2002-2003. Hardy has also been linked to two earlier murders where prostitutes were dismembered and dumped in the River Thames. He was given three life sentences.
Fred West and his wife, Rosemary, are believed to have murdered at least 12 young women in Gloucester. He committed suicide in 1995 while being held on suspicion of murder. Rosemary is serving a life sentence.
The Gay Slayer, Colin Ireland, killed five gay men in West London in 1993. He was given five life sentences.
Beverly Allitt, called the Angel of Death, was an English nurse convicted of killing four children and injuring 11 others at a Lincolnshire hospital. She received 13 life sentences in 1993.
The Stockwell Strangler, Kenneth Erskine, killed 11 elderly men and women in 1986. He was sentenced to 40 years.
Bruce George Peter Lee was convicted of 26 manslaughter charges in 1981. He admitted to starting several fatal fires and is being detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.
Denis Andrew Nilsen killed at least 15 men in London from 1978 to 1981. He was convicted of six murders and two attempted murders and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Harold Shipman. (Greater Manchester Police/Getty Images)
Mark Rowntree killed four people at random in Yorkshire in 1975. He's being held in a mental institution indefinitely.
Harold Frederick Shipman, a doctor who killed about 250 patients from the 1970s to 1998 in Greater Manchester, was convicted on 15 murder charges in 2000 and sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences. He committed suicide in 2004.
Patrick Mackay confessed to killing 11 people, including a priest, during robberies in the early 1970s. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
British serial killer Peter Sutcliffe in 1983. (Express Newspapers/Getty Images)
Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe admitted to killing 13 women, mostly prostitutes, during the 1970s. He was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison.
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley were responsible for the Moors Murders in Greater Manchester between 1963 and 1965, when five children were killed. In August 1987, he claimed to police that he had killed five other children, but police were not able to prove whether these claims were true. He was sentenced to three terms of life imprisonment.
Jack the Stripper was responsible for London's nude murders in 1964-1965. He murdered six prostitutes, whose nude bodies were discovered in locations around London or dumped in the Thames. He was never caught.
John Reginald Halliday Christie (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The Vampire of London, John George Haigh, claimed to drink his victim's blood before dissolving their bodies in acid. He killed six people in the 1940s, but claimed to have killed eight.
John Reginald Halliday Christie was active from 1940 to 1950, killing his wife and at least five others. He was arrested, tried and hanged in 1953.
This image, using state-of-the-art profiling, was released by Britain's Channel 5 Broadcasting to show what Jack the Ripper may have looked like.(Channel 5 Broadcasting)
The Brides in the Bath Murderer, George Joseph Smith, was a bigamist who killed all three of his wives in bathtubs in Blackpool. He was hanged in 1915.
Jack the Ripper was the notorious Victorian serial killer who killed at least five prostitutes in East London in 1888. He was never caught.
William Palmer was active in the 1880s. Several people connected to him, including people to whom he owed money, died mysteriously. He was hanged.
