A 36-year-old man was arrested today over the murder of French student Amelie Delagrange.
The man was detained at a house in West Drayton, west London, around 8.30 a.m., three months after the 22-year-old was attacked near Twickenham Green, south west London.
The man is also being questioned over the attempted murder and robbery of a woman near the same green in November 2002.
The man is being held at a west London police station and officers are searching a number of addresses in that part of the British capital, Scotland Yard said.
He is the fifth man to have been arrested in connection with the murder. Two of the four previously detained were re-bailed until December while the other two were also re-bailed, but have been detained under the Mental Health Act for a period of assessment.
Last week police made a fresh appeal for four witnesses seen in the area when Ms Delagrange was killed on August 19th. The student was found lying on Twickenham Green with serious head injuries and was later confirmed dead.
She was walking home after getting off a bus following a night out when she was attacked. Police have previously linked the murder to a number of other attacks in south west London, including the murder of 19-year-old gap year student Marsha McDonnell. It is understood the November 2002 incident, which the man is also being questioned over, has not previously been linked.
Police believe Ms Delagrange's killer could be a serial attacker and think he was probably the same man who murdered Ms McDonnell in Hampton in February last year. The two murders have also been linked to other similar attacks in south-west London stretching back to the beginning of last year. In each case the attacker pounced from behind on women with blonde or light brown shoulder-length hair who were walking alone in the evening.
PA