British police find murdered Frenchwoman’s belongings in Thames

LONDON, Aug 24 (AFP) – British police seeking the killer of a 22-year-old Frenchwoman said Tuesday they had made a “significant breakthrough” in finding some of her belongings dumped in the river Thames.

Amelie Delagrange, a student, was bludgeoned to death Thursday in a park in Twickenham, southwest of London.

Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Murphy said that specialist police divers had searched the area of river and under the bridge at Walton-on-Thames, some 15 to 20 minutes drive from where Amelie’s body was found.

“They found a set of keys which we believe to be Amelie’s, a purse and a Walkman,” he said, adding that the find was not linked to specific intelligence.

Amelie’s Sony Ericsson mobile phone and her brown and mustard coloured handbag have yet to be found.

Murphy said earlier Tuesday there had been a “phenomenal” response to a call for witnesses to come forward. A reconstruction of the last known movements of the young woman was being organised for Thursday.

A passer-by found Amelie lying in the park with severe head injuries. She died in hospital.

She had been in England for some months learning English and working in a local French patisserie in a nearby town.

The crime is similar to three attacks in the same area in the last 20 months, one of them fatal.

“There is nothing specific to link the incidents at this stage, but it is obviously an important line of inquiry,” a London Metropolitan Police spokesman said last week.

The earlier murder victim, Marsha McDonnell, 19, was killed in February of last year, while two other women, aged 17 and 34, were struck violently on the head in January 2003 and April this year respectively, sustaining serious injuries.