IPSWICH, England: A man appeared in court on Friday accused of murdering five prostitutes during an unprecedented serial killing spree in eastern England which terrified locals and gripped Britain.

Steven Wright is accused of killing Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls, whose naked bodies were found dumped at rural locations around the town of Ipswich in the county of Suffolk.

The bodies were discovered in the space of 11 days and the speed of the murders was said by the local police chief to be unrivalled in British criminal history.

The 48-year-old Wright, reported by British media to be a forklift truck driver, arrived at Ipswich magistrates' court in a police van flanked by two squad cars.

He appeared smartly dressed and flanked by police officers for the brief court hearing. He was remanded in custody to appear at the town's Crown Court on January 2.

Carron Davies, 17, who knew one of the victims, Annette Nicholls, said she had come along because she was upset and angry about the murders.

"Whoever did it is an evil person. He should deserve to die as well," Davies said. "Annette was a lovely girl, kind, always smiling, bubbly."

Paul Osler, Wright's lawyer, appealed for restraint from the media, which has scrutinized every twist and turn of the inquiry on television, online and in newspapers since the murders hit the headlines three weeks ago.

"The most important thing for people to remember is my client is presumed innocent until convicted in a court of law," he told the BBC, saying his client was "bearing up well."

The case evokes those of Jack the Ripper, the 19th century London prostitute killer who was never found, and Peter Sutcliffe, known as the Yorkshire Ripper, who killed 13 women, mainly prostitutes, in northern England between 1975 and 1980.

A second man, who had been questioned since Monday, was released on police bail on Thursday pending further inquiries.

He has been named by British media as 37-year-old supermarket worker Tom Stephens, although the police have declined to confirm his identity.

The developments followed a huge police investigation that gathered momentum with the discovery of each body.

Detectives launched the investigation on December 2 when 25-year-old Adams's body was found in a stream. The body of 19-year-old Nicol last seen on October 30 and the first to be reported missing was discovered in the same stream on December 8. The other three bodies were found over the next four days.

(China Daily 12/23/2006 page1)