The arrest came a day after police took into custody a 37-year-old grocery store clerk who had said in a newspaper interview he knew all five women but denied killing them. Detectives were questioning both men Tuesday; neither has been charged.

The second suspect was arrested around 5 a.m. in Ipswich, said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull. The British broadcaster Sky News reported that he was arrested at his home in the town's red-light district.

Police blocked off part of London Road in Ipswich and searched a home believed to be that of the second suspect. A dark blue Ford Mondeo was seen being loaded on a transporter by officers.

Police have not released the identity of either suspect.

However, the man arrested Monday has been identified in news reports as Tom Stephens, 37. In an interview with a British newspaper before his arrest, Stephens said he knew all five of the victims and had been questioned by police.

"I don't have alibis for some of the times (of the killings), actually I'm not entirely sure I have tight alibis for any of the times. But I'm not worried about being charged. I'm innocent," The Sunday Mirror quoted him as saying.

The naked bodies of Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls were found dumped in rural areas around Ipswich, 70 miles northeast of London, over 10 days beginning Dec. 2. They were working illegally as prostitutes.

Stephens, who also worked as a part-time taxi driver, told the newspaper his house was searched Nov. 22, more than a week before the first body was found. He was arrested in Trimley St. Martin, 8 miles southeast of Ipswich.

Stephens was known to have visited an Internet blog site under the pseudonym "The Bishop," where he listed his interests as "keeping fit" and music from the '80s. His hero, he said, is the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Hong Kong Phooey, a crime-fighting dog.

Clennell, 24, died of compression to her neck, and Alderton, 24, was strangled, a senior pathologist determined. The cause of the death of the other three victims have not been determined.

The investigation had strained the resources of England's smallest police force, and 340 specialist investigators were brought in from across Britain to join 160 Suffolk officers working on the case.

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On the Net:

Suffolk police, http://www.suffolk.police.uk