Wright: man the neighbours never knew

Nobody took much notice of Steve Wright - until detectives took him away.

He was the quiet drinker in the corner of the pub. The bloke neighbours never got to know. An "unassuming" golfer - who wore black.

Ipswich prostitutes saw him as a "wham-bam-thank you-mam" regular. A punter they were comfortable with. Not a man with "serial killer" stamped on his forehead.

Wright is the product of a broken home and complex family background.

Born on April 24 1958, in West Beckham, Norfolk, Wright's father Conrad, 71, was an RAF policeman. He has a brother, David, who is in his 50s, two sisters Tina and Jeanette, both in their 40s.

His parents separated when he was a child - his mother moved to the United States. Conrad married second wife Valerie in 1968 and the couple had two more children - Keith and Natalie.

Twice-married, Wright has two children - a son in his early 20s and a daughter approaching her teens.

One ex-wife, Diane Cole, who is in her 50s, married Wright in the mid-1980s. She said the marriage lasted less than a year and was "a total disaster".

Wright left school with no qualifications and joined the Merchant Navy.

He worked on the liner QE2 as a steward for about six years and later became a publican - managing bars including the Ferry Boat Inn, in Norwich, in 1988.

By the mid-1990s, he was working as a labourer in Felixstowe, Suffolk - near to where his father and stepmother live. He then spent a short time in Thailand.

Wright met partner Pam Wright - she coincidentally has the same surname - at a bingo hall in Felixstowe eight years ago.

They lived in Felixstowe, then Ipswich - moving to 79 London Road in October 2006.

In 2001 Wright registered with the Gateway recruitment agency, based near Ipswich. At the time of his arrest he was working as a forklift truck driver in Ipswich.

Wright and his partner, a call centre worker, were regulars at Ipswich pub, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Landlady Sheila Davis said: "He was just very quiet, it was hard to get a word out of him. He would only speak when spoken to."

Drinker Billy Austin said Wright celebrated his 48th birthday at the pub.

"Steve would never say much. You never knew what he was thinking," he said.

"If you asked 50 people around here before last December if they knew Steve Wright, no one would've said yes. Now everybody knows his name - but nobody really knows him."

Wright was a member of Seckford Golf Club near Woodbridge, Suffolk, and of the Brigands golfing society, based at the Brook Hotel in Felixstowe.

Seckford professional Simon Jay said Wright was "unassuming" and added: "He always played in black. He was an OK golfer."

A prostitute who slept with Wright added: "He didn't go round with 'serial killer' written on his head. It was just wham-bam-thank you-mam most of the time."