Hundreds questioned in prostitute investigation

? Police have questioned hundreds of motorists and pedestrians in the red-light district of an eastern England town, trying to trace the final steps of five slain prostitutes, police said Sunday.

More than 400 people were questioned in Ipswich, Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull said. They were specifically asked if they had seen one woman, 24-year-old Paula Clennell, whose naked body was discovered at the side of a busy road Tuesday.

Five days before she disappeared on Dec. 10, a frightened Clennell told a television crew she was still working the streets to satisfy her drug cravings despite the discovery of the bodies of three other prostitutes. Police have said Clennell died from a “compression to the neck.”

Gull said 340 specialist investigators from forces across Britain had joined 160 officers on the task force searching for the killer. By Sunday morning, police had received more than 10,000 calls from the public.