The Suffolk Murders: An Arrest
Is this the face of a serial killer? Tom Stephens, a 37-year-old supermarket assistant by police investigating the murder of five women in the Ipswich area. As I write, he is being questioned by detectives at an unnamed police station in Suffolk. Only time -- and the continuing investigation -- will tell if Tom Stephens is the man who killed Gemma Adams, Anneli Alderton, Tania Nicol, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls. Without prejudice to that investigation, we can only hope that an end is in sight for the families of those young women whose lives were taken from them.
I spoke with Cari Mitchell from the English Collective of Prostitutes on Sunday morning and she was adamant that the police need to do more to protect female sex workers. She says the police do not investigate reports of violence against prostitutes as carefully as they investigate other crimes -- the life of a prostititute, she maintains, is undervalued, and violent clients are left to abuse other women. Getting away with violence may encourage some clients to get even more violent.
412 detectives, uniformed officers and other staff were involved in this investigation -- drawn from 36 police forces. Cari Mitchell believes those resources would not have been necessary if more was done to protect these women in the first instance: through further legalisation of prostitution and also a more responsible response by the police to early reports of violent crimes. This is a serious debate for serious people. Whether or not Tom Stephens is eventually prosecuted, it's a debate we need to have.
Comments
Give him a life sentence.
Roberto, wouldn't it be polite to have a trial first?
Would that the UK had the death penalty. :-(
nice one JG ;-)
JW
How many guilty people executed make up for one innocent put to death.
Would you feel the same if it was your son wrongly executed.
Capital punishment is barbarism.
From what I've seen of lambs and sheep, you can look at any flock and you will find a mob mentality. They just arrested a second suspect for questioning. One of them is undoubtedly the wrong guy. It wouldn't be the first mistake Britain's police have made. The last one in the news was a Brazilian kid they mistook for an Arab terrorist. They shot him dead on the subway. First the execution, then the trial. Who says there is no death penalty in Britain? What next, bring back the Tower and the Axman? At least it would make a good show for American tourists and much more memorable than a bullfight. Isn't that a familiar justification for keeping the Royal Family too, a good tourist attraction?
Fascinating that 5 months later, this "article" is still on the Â鶹Éçwebsite whereas in the meantime another man is now standing trials for murder.
And what about the "treatment" of Robert Murrat in the Madeleine McCann case.
At least in France I don't have to pay for the Â鶹Éç licence fee.
Have you apologised yet to Tom Stephens?
Has he been made aware that he could sue for defamation?
You have to feel sorry for this guy, another bloke entirely will now be on trial for the murders but Stephens' (presumably incorrect) status as a suspect will be on the web forever. Lucky we don't have the death penalty, eh?
Can you guys not read what this article says? It says things like: without prejudice to the actual investigation, whether not not tom stephens is prosecuted, etc. the article represents a moment in time when this suspect was arrested. nothing here accuses him of guilt. this is the nature of an in-time blog, or any online article. it was accurate when it was written and its perfectly valid that it should remain on this site now.