The Sunday Mercury has revealed how police are to investigate the possibility that the unsolved murders of up to 40 women could be linked.

The paper dedicated seven pages to its exclusive story that West Midlands Police are undertaking their biggest-ever inquiry after three Birmingham women were killed within 96 hours of each other.

Reporters and photographers were sent out for the major story, which resulted in backgrounders on the murders, exclusive photos of the forensic team at work and analysis of the police response to the deaths.

The three women – Jodie Hyde, Rosemary Corcoran and Carol Jordan – were all found dead between November 8 and 12.

Much of the Mercury news team was involved in the paper’s investigation – which includes a look back at the lives of the three murdered women and reports on how police forces from across the country will be liaising with West Midlands Police.

It tells of the shock of the community of Sparkbrook, in Birmingham, where a suspect due to appear in court on Friday is well-known to locals who thought of him as a “gentle giant” and had nick-named him “bigfoot”.

The police were refusing to officially comment on the scale of the inquiry, but one officer told the Sunday Mercury: “We are looking at between 14 and 40 murders. All of them are young or youngish women.

“The inquiry now involves police forces across the country from Devon and Cornwall to Northumbria. The murders have all taken place in the past 10 years.”

A taxi driver from Birmingham has been charged with the November murders and was remanded in custody.

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