Murdered woman dumped at roadside

A murder hunt was under way today after the body of a 24-year-old woman was found battered and dumped by the side of the road.

Kelly Sinnott was discovered wrapped in a rug and left in the gateway of a field at a secluded spot near Milton Keynes.

However, police believe she was killed a few hours earlier 60 miles away near her home in Bethnal Green. Today Metropolitan Police officers were helping to locate the murder scene.

A post-mortem examination has shown Miss Sinnott, who was described by police as coming from a "respectable" background, had been beaten around the head with a weapon before being strangled.

Her killer, and at least one accomplice, then wrapped the body in a household rug and bundled it into the back of a four-byfour vehicle or van. It is thought they then drove from London up the M1 before leaving the motorway at Milton Keynes and seeking out a secluded spot to get rid of the body.

A police source told the Standard: "The way this woman's body was left suggests whoever dumped it just wanted to get it out of their vehicle as soon as possible and get away. This was in no way a sophisticated or properly planned exercise.

"They just left it by the edge of a ploughed field wrapped up in the rug. It was probably just the first reasonably quiet lay-by they found once they came off the M1. There was no attempt to bury the body or conceal it in any way. There are deep drainage ditches and some thick undergrowth in that immediate area they could have used to try to disguise their victim."

Miss Sinnott, who was rapidly identified once the forensic team allowed her to be removed from the rug, is not understood to have been sexually assaulted but officers refused to say whether or not her body was still clothed.

She had been living with her family in Bethnal Green and was reported missing to police by her mother on Saturday evening. Her body was discovered within hours of being left, by a passing motorist.

More than 40 officers are involved in the search for the place where unemployed Miss Sinnott was killed. It is understood the investigating team is following up information given to them by her family.

Anybody with information should call Thames Valley Police on 0845 8505505 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.