A MURDER hunt is underway after the body of a woman found dumped in a suitcase has been identified as a missing care worker. The grim discovery of Leah Questin, 37, of Sneyd Road, Cricklewood, was made in a dried-up pond in Kent last week but she was so

A MURDER hunt is underway after the body of a woman found dumped in a suitcase has been identified as a missing care worker.

The grim discovery of Leah Questin, 37, of Sneyd Road, Cricklewood, was made in a dried-up pond in Kent last week but she was so badly decomposed she was only identified on Tuesday afternoon.

The Filipino, who had been reported missing by a concerned friend, had last been seen at her home on September 12.

Investigating officers probing her disappearance had managed to string together a sequence of events which saw her last captured movements in south London.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Lansdown, of the Met's Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said: "We have established through CCTV footage that she travelled alone on the 172 bus in the area of Elephant and Castle and was heading south.

"She boarded this bus on the New Kent Road shortly after exiting Elephant and Castle underground station.

"It is still not clear where she was heading to.

DCI Lansdown and his team are working closely with their counterparts from Kent Police to gather evidence.

Making an appeal for information, DCI Lansdown said: "I appeal to anyone who saw Leah in south east London or on the 172 bus or its route on Saturday 12 September to contact us.

"We also need to hear from anyone who may have seen her after September 12 and up until her body was found as we need to understand where she was going, who she was meeting and how she came to be murdered."

A post mortem results were inconclusive and further tests are ongoing to ascertain how Miss Questin died.

She is 4ft 11ins, of petite with a light complexion, was and long black hair, and was wearing a red top and blue jeans.

Anyone with information can call the incident room at Hendon on 020 8358 0200 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

As the Times went to press a 35 year-old-man was being questioned after being arrested on suspicion of Miss Questin's murder at an address south east London.