Costa Killer linked to two missing women

Detectives investigating "Costa Killer" Tony King believe he could be responsible for the abduction and murder of two young women in west London, it emerged today.

Elizabeth Chau, 19, and Lola Shenkoya, 27, disappeared in Ealing nine months apart in 1999 and 2000.

There has been no trace of either of them since, despite extensive police inquiries.

Convicted rapist King moved from London to Spain in 1997, where he is in custody after admitting killing two women and raping three more.

But detectives fear that while he was abroad he may have visited the UK periodically to carry out more attacks.

Senior officers confirmed today that they are investigating whether King could be responsible for the killing of both these young women.

Detectives have travelled to Spain to liaise with the police there and exchange information about King's method of operation and any possible trips to Britain.

King is also being investigated in connection with the killing of Surrey teenager Milly Dowler as well as four other unsolved murders.

Miss Chau, a business and law student at Thames Valley University, was last seen on CCTV walking past Ealing police station just after 6pm on Friday 16 April 1999.

She was on her way to the house she shared with her parents and

had just said goodbye to a friend outside the HMV shop.

The teenager's savings and bank account remained untouched and her clothes and passport were at home.

Miss Shenkoya, a 27-year-old US citizen of Nigerian origin, vanished in the same area. She has not been seen since she took a bus to Ealing Broadway in January 2000.

Several women reported attempts to lure them into cars or vans in the area.

King, 38, who changed his name from Tony Bromwich, was dubbed the Holloway Strangler after he was jailed for 10 years in 1986 for a series of rapes in North London. He was released in 1991 but jailed a year later for robbing a woman at knifepoint.

King changed his name on his release in 1995 and fled to Spain in 1997 after there had been an attack on a Hungarian student at Leatherhead station, Surrey.

Later, it emerged he had left a day before CCTV film was shown on BBC TV's Crimewatch featuring the attack.

A number of viewers called naming him as the assailant.

Spanish police say King has confessedto the murders of au pair Rocio Wanninkhof in 1999 and Sonia Carabantes, 17, in August - as well as three rapes.

A team of 10 detectives in London is now examining unsolved cases in Britain to see if there is any possibility he carried out attacks here.

They are checking a total of 11 unsolved cases, including seven murders, three rapes and one assault. Seven police forces in the UK are involved in the inquiry.

Officers are piecing together a jigsaw of air tickets, mobile phone records and credit card details to see if King returned on secret trips. Amanda Dowler, nicknamed Milly, was snatched from the street as she walked home in Walton-on-Thames in March last year.

The 13-year-old's body was found six months later in woodland 20 miles away.

The officer co-ordinating the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Phil Adams, said: "We are methodically examining a number of cases, particularly where there has been a similar method of operation.

Anyone with information on the murders should contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.