Dead woman's family mourn 'angel'

Amelie Delagrange was killed on Thursday

The parents of a woman killed as she took a shortcut home in south-west London have laid flowers at the scene.

Amelie Delagrange, 22, is thought to have met her killer as she cut across Twickenham Green on Thursday night. She suffered serious head injuries.

A card from her mother said: "Amelie, my angel, I keep you in my heart forever and I keep your smile."

The tributes came as detectives said Amelie's killer may be a local man, aged 15-30, with knowledge of the area.

Crime profilers are considering whether the murder is linked to three similar attacks on women in the area.

Marsha McDonnell, 19, was bludgeoned to death three miles away from the scene in February 2003.

A 17-year-old girl and a 34-year-old women were both left with serious head injuries after attacks in Twickenham in January 2003 and April 2004.

RECENT ATTACKS IN THE AREA 1: 8 January 2003, 17-year-old girl attacked 2: 4 February 2003, Marsha McDonnell, 19, killed 3: 18 April 2004, 34-year-old woman attacked 4: 19 August 2004, Amelie Delagrange, 22, killed

Det Ch Supt Andy Murphy said a possible link between the attacks was a major line of inquiry.

But he added: "What is important to me is to focus people's minds back to what happened on Thursday, because that is where the evidence is, that is where the clues will be and that is how we will solve this murder."

A French student, Ms Delagrange had been in the UK two months and had been working at a delicatessen to improve her English.

She had been out for the night at Crystalz wine bar on London Road, in Twickenham.

She got the 267 bus to Fulwell Bus Garage, where she got off at 2145 BST after missing her stop.

The last sighting of her was at 2159 BST, when a passing bus caught her on camera heading back from Fulwell Bus Garage along Hampton Road towards Twickenham Green.

Less than half an hour later, a police patrol car was flagged down by someone who had found her body.

The family, who lived 60 miles outside Paris, flew to London on Saturday and spent up to an hour at the green on Sunday.

Her parents, sister and uncle laid flowers and cards at the murder scene.

Family tributes

Amelie's sister wrote: "To my beloved sister, you had found here the happiness you were looking for.

You stay forever in my heart. In the name of my small family, I write: I love you."

Amelie, my angel, why do you leave your mother? I must live without you. I keep you in my heart forever and I keep your smile. Mummy, who loves you, and all your cousins and friends think of you and will love you forever. Message from Amelie's mother

Her father said: "You will always stay alive and stay in my heart, my little darling Lili, you whom I find so beautiful.

"Daddy, who always loved you."

Detectives want anyone who was in Hampton Road to contact them, whether they saw Ms Delagrange or not, as they need to eliminate people from the inquiry.

Ms Delagrange had shoulder-length blonde hair and was wearing a white cardigan, red shirt and white trousers.

Her handbag and Sony Ericsson T300 mobile phone were missing and police say they could be "immensely important" to the case.