Police fear serial hammer killer stalks London
LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Police are investigating whether a serial hammer killer is targeting women in London after a French woman was bludgeoned to death in circumstances similar to other attacks.
Emilie Delagrange, 22, was found with a serious head injury lying near a cricket pitch in the southwest suburb of Twickenham on Thursday night. She died shortly afterwards.
The attack bore similarities to three other assaults in the neighbourhood in the past two years, all of which left female victims with severe head injuries.
A London police spokeswoman said the Delagrange investigation was being helped by officers from a team that probed the nearby murder of student Marsha McDonnell last year.
"The possibility that this was linked to other attacks is an important line of inquiry, but we are keeping an open mind," she said.
McDonnell, a 19-year-old gap-year student, was bludgeoned to death in the early hours of Feb. 4, 2003, close to her home after taking the bus back from a night out with friends.
A 17-year-old boy who was arrested last March in connection with the murder is being held in a secure mental unit, but has not been charged.
Delagrange, who had been living and working in Twickenham, was killed as she walked home, also having taken the bus back from a night out.
Police said other similar attacks have taken place on women in the area, although not all victims were killed.
A month before the McDonnell murder, a 17-year-old girl survived serious head injuries from an attack in nearby Strawberry Hill, and in April this year a 34-year-old woman was attacked on Twickenham Green, where Delagrange died.
A few weeks after McDonnell was killed, a male 18-year-old was attacked nearby but escaped unhurt. He said the weapon he was struck with was a "hammer-like" tool.
Detectives are still trying to trace Delagrange's mustard coloured handbag and mobile phone.
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