WHEN troubled teenager Gwynneth Rees moved to Canvey from her home in South Wales back in 1957, no doubt she was hoping for a better life.

But tragically she soon found herself working in London as a prostitute and less than six years later she was murdered.

Stripped naked and strangled, her body lay undiscovered for five weeks, one of eight working girls brutally murdered by a killer the newspapers nicknamed Jack the Stripper.

The murderer was never caught, but more than 40 years later one man is convinced he knows who did it.

Author Neil Milkins found out about the case after writing a book about notorious child killer Harold Jones.

Jones was just 15 when he raped and murdered two young girls in Milkins’ home town of Abetillery, South Wales, in 1921.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, where psychiatric reports claim he never showed any remorse.

After publishing the book, Every Mother’s Nightmare, Neil was contacted by a reader who had noticed that Jones had been living in the Hammersmith area of London where the murders happened between 1963 and 1965.

Neil said: “When I had my book published last July I didn’t know a thing about these Hammersmith murders.

“But when I found out about them, I had a gut feeling straight away that he was involved.”

Gwynneth was the second prostitute to meet her end at the hands of Jack the Stripper.

Born in Barry, Glamorgan, on August 6 1941, Gwynneth was just 16 when she moved to Canvey in 1957 to live with her sister in Twyzel Road.

The following year she had a baby named Kim, which the family pretended was her sister’s child.

She had a second child a couple of years later while living in London, which she arranged to be looked after by another family.

While living in Canvey, she worked for a shoe factory in Rayleigh and for Thomas Batta shoes in East Tilbury, catching an employees’ bus to the factory.

Neil said: “I am sure there would have been a lot of people from Canvey would have got that bus with her, so I am sure that somebody would remember her.”

He is hoping people will come forward with more information about Gwynneth so he can piece together her story and compile more evidence to link Jones to the case.

At the time the prime suspect was Mungo Ireland, but he killed himself before police could prove his involvement.

Under the alias Harry Steven, Jones lived near to Ireland at the time of the murders, but quickly moved out after Mungo’s body was found.

Scotland Yard reviewed the case in 2006 and 2007 and concluded it was most likely that Ireland was the killer, but did not rule out the possibility of there being an accomplice.

Neil said: “The reason I believe he moved is because the place was swarming with police all over the garage where Ireland killed himself.

“The garage was at Heron Trading Estate in West London where forensics showed four of the bodies had been kept.”

Gwynneth had been living in Bethnal Green in London’s East End at the time of her murder.

Her body was found dumped at a rubbish sorting station at Mortlake, near Richmond, in South London, in November 1963.

Soon after Gwyn’s murder her sister and family moved back to Wales.

The only trace of Gwynneth in Canvey is a simple aluminium cross in the churchyard at St Katherine’s that reads simply: “To Auntie Gwyn.”

Anyone with information can call Neil, on 01495 213744, or can e-mail him, at n.milkin@sky.com