Blood-stained room searched over torso killing

Police have found the flat where a killer dismembered a young woman before throwing her remains in a canal.

Detectives raided three addresses today after tipoffs and found a bloodstained room in one of them where they believe the body was dissected.

The torso was found in a suitcase by a group of teenage boys playing alongside the Regent's Park Canal in Islington on Saturday afternoon.

The identity of the victim, whose head and hands had been cut off, is still unknown but she was a slim black woman aged between 18 and 30, and 5ft 3ins tall.

Officers say they are keeping an "open mind" about a motive for the murder but will be liaising with the murder team investigating the "voodoo" murder of a five-year-old boy whose dismembered body was found floating in the Thames in 2001.

Scotland Yard said a forensic science team was now carrying out a detailed examination of the flat.

The victim had been dead for at least two days but a cause of death could not be confirmed.

Police are also looking at possible links to the murder of prostitute Paula Fields, whose dismembered body was found in the same canal four years ago.

Police are appealing for witnesses who saw anyone acting suspiciously around Danbury Street and Graham Street, N1.

Anyone with information should contact the Incident Room at Barking on 020 8345 3985 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.