Search for 'serial killer'

Detectives investigating the murders of Amelie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell are examining hundreds of other cases involving lone women victims, the Standard can reveal today.

Police fear the same man may also be behind the murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler - and perhaps dozens more attacks.

The development came as detectives involved in the inquiry into Miss Delagrange's murder released details of a deliberate hit-and-run attack on a convent school head girl.

The attempted murder of 18-year-old Kate Sheedy in Isleworth last May is the seventh attack to be linked to 22-year-old Miss Delagrange's killing.

The driver ran down the schoolgirl as she walked home, ramming her from behind before reversing over her body, leaving her for dead.

Detectives now believe the attack was part of a series of at least eight assaults dating back two years - three murders and five attempted murders.

Police are checking hundreds of cases of attacks on lone women, including a number of incidents which have been classified as road traffic accidents.

One source said: "There is a huge list of cases: we are talking tens, perhaps hundreds. There is a considerable amount of work that needs to be done."

Scotland Yard has launched a massive inquiry into the linked cases involving about 60 detectives and civil staff.

The inquiry, codenamed Operation Yeaddiss, is examining the theory that a single suspect committed the murders of Miss Delagrange and gap year student Marsha McDonnell, 19, who was killed as she walked home in Hampton Wick in February 2003. Four other attempted murders of women walking home alone are also being linked.

A man previously arrested and detained in a mental hospital in connection with Miss McDonnell's murder is no longer a suspect.

The news that the hit-and-run attack is being linked to Miss Delagrange's murder comes a day after Surrey Police announced they were examining possible links between Operation Yeaddiss and the hunt for the killer of Milly Dowler, 13, who disappeared as she walked home from school in Walton-on-Thames in March 2002. Her body was found in Hampshire woodland six months later. Police are considering a joint inquiry involving both forces.

In each of the attacks in London the

assailant pounced from behind on women with blonde or light brown shoulder-length hair who were walking alone in the evening.

Some of the victims, notably Miss Dowler and Miss Sheedy, bear remarkable physical similarities.

Detectives today issued an urgent plea for help in connection with the investigation into Miss Sheedy's attempted murder. They have suspected the attack may be part of the Yeaddiss series for several months but the suspicion deepened in recent weeks after developments in the inquiry.

Today police released CCTV footage of a white Toyota Previa people-carrier they believe could have been used in the attack and urged anyone with information on the vehicle to contact them.

Miss Sheedy was left with horrifying injuries after the hit-and-run as she walked home from a night out with friends in the early hours of 28 May last year.

She had just got off a bus opposite the County Arms pub in Worton Road, Isleworth, when she noticed a "sinister" white people-carrier - thought to be a Toyota Previa - with blacked-out windows parked nearby with its engine running.

As she crossed the road, the vehicle's engine suddenly revved and it headed straight for her, running her over.

The car stopped on top of her and reversed back over her body before driving off at high speed.

Amazingly, Miss Sheedy, a sixthformer at Gumley Convent School, remained conscious throughout the attack and managed to phone her mother to say that she had been run over - telling her she believed she was dying.

She managed to provide her mother with details of where she was and both of her parents rushed out to search for her.

Miss Sheedy suffered terrible internal injuries and broke every bone in her rib cage, but has since made a remarkable recovery and is going to university, having achieved two As and a B at A-level.

After the attack her mother, Eileen Sheedy, said: "No mother wants or expects to be phoned by their own child saying that she has been run over and that she thinks she is dying.

"When I found Kate on the pavement her first concern was for her pink shoes. These she bought for her 18th birthday."

Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton, who is leading the Operation Yeaddiss team, said he was appealing for anyone who may have details of the Previa vehicle to contact them.

He also revealed that Miss Sheedy had told them she believed there may have been two people in the car at the time.

The detective said: "What happened that night was down to the driver alone. It may be that whoever was the passenger had nothing to do with what the driver did. If that is the case and that passenger is frightened because of what happened, we need him or her to come and speak to us.

"We are also appealing for information about the ownership and the driver of the vehicle at the time of the attack."

The CCTV footage shows a white Previa following and then waiting behind the bus Miss Sheedy got off. There is a gap of just over a minute before the vehicle flashes past again at high speed. Detectives have already seized a white Previa, registration K855 EFL, which they believe may be connected to the attack.

Anyone who has information is asked to contact police on 020 7247 7911 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.