UK News 20-09-2004 Serial Hammer Killer At Large who: Scotland Yard what: Says murders of Amélie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell are linked where: LONDON when: Yesterday snippet: "Detectives last night revealed that the murders of Amelie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell in south-west London have been formally linked," reports The Scotsman, "prompting fears that a serial hammer killer could be on the loose in the city." Marsha McDonnell, a 19-year-old British gap-year student, was killed in Hampton, Surrey, in February 2003 as she walked home after a party. 22 year-old French student Amelie Delagrange was killed in Twickenham, South West London, last month. "A woman, 28, was attacked in Feltham four days after Amelie," recalls The Mirror, "and another, Edel Harbison, 34, in Twickenham in April. Dawn Brunton, 36, and a girl, 17, were beaten in Hatton Cross and Richmond last year." "It is now felt appropriate to treat the assaults and murders as linked from an investigative point of view," says a Scotland Yard spokesman, quoted in The Telegraph. "The investigation has not revealed any forensic links for the incidents or anything linking the victims. However, there are some similarities in the profiles of the victims. They are all blondes hit on the head with a blunt instrument." [... more]

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