POLICE tonight confirmed that the body found in a village stream just outside Ipswich is that of missing prostitute Tania Nicol.Her body was found in the water at Copdock Mill on Friday lunchtime - in the same stream and about two miles from where the naked body of vice girl Gemma Adams was discovered last Saturday.

POLICE have confirmed that the body found in a village stream just outside Ipswich is that of missing prostitute Tania Nicol.

Her body was found in the water at Copdock Mill on Friday lunchtime - in the same stream and about two miles from where the naked body of vice girl Gemma Adams was discovered last Saturday.

And, during a press conference, police revealed for the first time that they are linking the two deaths, and have launched a double murder investigation.

The news will serve to heighten fears, already voiced by the English Collective of Prostitutes, that a serial killer may be responsible for the horrific deaths.

Miss Nicol, 19, from Ipswich was last seen outside a garage in the town on October 30.

A post mortem on her body was conducted at Ipswich Hospital by a Home Office pathologist but officers leading the investigation said further tests would be required to ascertain the cause of death.

They are also waiting on the results of tests to learn the cause of Miss Adams' death.

Detective Superintendent Andy Henwood, who is leading the inquiry into both deaths, said: “Following the discovery of Tania's body in the brook at Copdock we are now beginning a linked murder investigation.

“There are obvious similarities between Tania and Gemma's disappearances and subsequent deaths so we will be treating these as linked investigations.”

For the latest on this story, see Monday's EADT.