Torso police told of more murders

Detectives investigating the "Torso in the Thames" murder believe they have uncovered other suspected ritualistic killings in mainland Europe and America which could be linked.

Officers believe the number of ritualistic or voodoo murders in Europe in the last 10 years now runs into double figures. Scotland Yard detectives are particularly keen in examining further killings in Belgium, Italy, Greece and France as well as the USA.

Investigating officer Det Insp Will O'Reilly will now be liaising with the FBI and other European forces after the new cases were uncovered during a conference in The Hague yesterday.

Mr O'Reilly said: "There are a significant number of these types of deaths in Africa but it seems that they have been imported, albeit on a smaller scale, into Europe."

Mr O'Reilly said a case involving the death of a man, aged about 30, in France bore similarities to the London investigation. In this case there was a dismembered torso and the remains were also dumped in water. And another case in Belgium, in which "genitalia had been skilfully removed" will also be examined.

Met police have been increasingly frustrated in their hunt for the killers of the five-year-old African boy, who officers have called "Adam".

His body was discovered near Tower Bridge last September. His head and limbs had been cut off. Detectives believe he was the victim of a "muti" murder and his body parts would have been used to make magical potions.

Each year hundreds of people become victims of human sacrifices at the hands of witch doctors or their followers in Africa and their body parts are used for black magic.