Serial killer Steve Wright caused victim’s family ‘untold distress’, court told

Suffolk strangler Steve Wright abducted schoolgirl Victoria Hall, sexually assaulted and killed her, then dumped her naked body in a ditch causing “untold distress”, a court has heard.

Serial killer Wright, 67, had admitted the kidnap and murder of the 17-year-old, who disappeared more than 25 years ago in a village on the outskirts of Felixstowe.

He also pleaded guilty to the attempted kidnap of Emily Doherty, then aged 22, in the Suffolk port town the day before.

Wright is already serving a whole-life prison sentence for the murders of five women in Ipswich but it is the first time he has admitted any killings.

On Friday, prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC outlined the facts of the case as Wright appeared at the Old Bailey to be sentenced.

She said Wright had been “on the prowl” in Felixstowe, Suffolk, on the weekend of September 18 and 19 1999 in his burgundy Ford Granada Scorpio.

“Almost undoubtedly sexually motivated, he was a predator stalking for his prey: looking for a young woman to kidnap,” she said.

In the early hours of September 18, Ms Doherty, 22, had become separated from her friends.

Ms Ledward said Wright made a mistake and allowed her to see him from several yards away.

Her “instincts” alerted her to the danger and she escaped unharmed by running, hiding and frantically knocking on the door of a couple, who by “great good fortune” answered and “probably saved her life”.

Ms Doherty’s description of her attacker’s car later led police to identify 56 vehicles, with Wright’s among them.

Undeterred, Wright struck again the next night.

Ms Ledward said: “He did not allow Victoria Hall, aged 17, to escape his predatory clutches.

“Having separated from her best friend Gemma Algar only 300 metres from her front door, she never made it home and seemingly vanished, the only clue to what happened to her a scream in the night on the small housing estate where she lived in the village of Trimley St Mary, not two miles from where the defendant made his attempt on Emily Doherty.

“But Victoria had not simply vanished into thin air. The defendant had abducted, and within a very short time, murdered her, as well as sexually violating her in some way.”

He then “callously discarded her body, stripped naked of everything except for her jewellery”, in a farm ditch some 25 miles away, “as if she were no more important than a disposable commodity”, the court was told.

Before or after, he headed to a petrol station and the following day returned to his work at the Felixstowe docks “as if nothing had happened”, the prosecutor said.

Ms Ledward said the way Victoria was left had caused “untold” distress to her family, including for her mother who died before Wright was brought to justice.

Wright had snatched Victoria shortly after she had parted ways with her friend Gemma Algar following a night out at Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe.

The girls had bought a bag of chips and were singing as they walked two miles back to their homes.

At about 2.20am the girls parted ways with Victoria saying: “I’ll ring you when I get up tomorrow”. Ms Algar replied: “You’ll hear me saying ‘ouch’ as I walk home.”

Ms Algar heard “two female high-pitched screams” as Victoria was snatched by Wright and bundled into his car.

When Victoria’s parents discovered she had not returned home, the police were called and a missing person inquiry commenced. Her body was found five days after she disappeared.

Victoria was found by a dog walker near Creeting St Peter, some 25 miles away from her home.

Ms Ledward said the man’s dog drew his attention to what appeared to be a “life sized rubber doll” in a ditch. He alerted police after realising he had found a body.

After the discovery of Victoria’s body, Wright reported an injury at work, sold his Ford Granada Scorpio and in November 1999 travelled to Thailand.

The following year, a wholly innocent 25-year-old businessman was accused of Victoria’s murder and was acquitted by a jury.

In 2001, Wright was charged with a series of thefts, which he admitted, and his conviction led to his DNA being added to the national database, eventually leading to his identification as a suspect.

Five years after Victoria’s murder, locals in Ipswich suffered six weeks of terror while detectives hunted for the serial killer in their midst.

On October 30 2006, Tania Nicol, 19, vanished from Ipswich’s red light area, followed by Gemma Adams, 25, around two weeks later, triggering a major inquiry.

Miss Adams’ body was found in a stream at Hintlesham on December 2, followed by the discovery of Miss Nicol’s remains in a pond at Copdock on December 8.

Two days later, the body of Anneli Alderton, 24, was found in woods at Nacton and sex workers in the town were urged to stay off the streets.

On December 12, the bodies of Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29, were found near woods at Levington.

Two of the women, who were all sex workers in Ipswich’s red light area, were laid out in a crucifix shape, which was described as “macabre”.

Wright was arrested at his Ipswich home a week later.

Wright, a former steward on the QE2, was handed a whole-life sentence in 2008 after being found guilty of all five murders.

He was arrested over the death of Ms Hall in 2021, two years after Suffolk Police announced it was a live inquiry again.

Days before his scheduled trial, Wright’s legal team failed in a bid to bar jurors from being told of his five murder convictions.

Wright will be sentenced by Mr Justice Bennathan at the Old Bailey later on Friday.