Man held in bin-bag bodies murder probe

British police were today questioning a man over the murder of two women whose body parts were found in bin bags in north London.

Anthony John Hardy, who was being sought in connection with the killings, was arrested last night after a tip off from a member of the public.

Officers from the Yard’s Territorial Support Group went to the area of Great Ormond Street Hospital for children in London and arrested the 51-year-old.

Hardy was being held at a north London police station.

He was named by British police on Wednesday following the gruesome find of body parts in black bin bags near a flat in Royal College Street, Camden, north London, where he lived.

Detectives issued his photograph and he was filmed on CCTV at University College Hospital’s casualty department as he attempted to get medication for his diabetic condition a few hours later.

Hardy, who had shaved off his beard, spent four hours at UCH but left after becoming panicky when staff tried to talk him into going to a hostel for the homeless.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman also revealed there had been two sightings of a woman, Kelly Anne Nicol, 24, from Falkirk, Scotland, last seen with Hardy on St Stephen's Day.

Detectives had urged her to come forward saying they feared for her safety, but the spokesman said: “We have also received two sightings of Kelly Anne Nicol, one of which was yesterday (which we are currently following up).

“However we still urge anyone who has seen her to contact police so that we can be satisfied that she is safe and well.”

The murder inquiry began after a tramp found pieces of two human legs wrapped in a bin liner at the back of the College Arms pub in Camden, London, UK, early on Monday.

He took the parts to the nearby National Hospital for Tropical Diseases where staff called police.

Later other body sections were discovered by hospital workers dumped in bins and wrapped in bin liners.

The body parts found so far belong to two white women, one thought to be in her 30s and the other in her late teens or early 20s. Police believe they were killed within the past week.

Neither of the victims has been identified but officers do not think they are related.

The heads, hands and other limbs of the women are still missing.