University News Last updated 20 June 2014
Two apparently random killings in the Colchester area are likely to be linked, according to Birmingham City University Criminologist Professor David Wilson.
Essex police have said that the murder of a Saudi Arabian student in the town on Tuesday has “similarities” with a killing in the same area in March.
Professor Wilson said: "Random attacks which lead to murder, such as the two that have taken place in Colchester, of Nahid Almanea and James Attfield, are very unusual.
“Murder is thankfully a rare event in our country and when murders do occur, we usually find that there has been a prior relationship between the victim and the perpetrator.
“The fact that both these murders involved the victims being stabbed many times – ‘overkilled’ – with each taking place within a small geographic area, suggests they are likely to be linked.
“It is important to remember that the killer will have been covered in blood. He has to have somewhere to return to after committing the murder. He has to dispose of his clothes, or at least have them washed. It is likely that he has a criminal record, or is known to the police. It is likely that he lives locally.
“The key to these linked events is always the first murder, and I would be re-investigating all the local intelligence that exists about the murder of Mr Attfield in March."