‘Suffolk strangler’ Steve Wright pleads guilty to killing sixth murder victim in 1999

It is the first time that one of Britain's most notorious killers has admitted responsibility for any of his crimes, despite pleas from his family to come clean

Steve Wright admitted to kidnapping and murdering Victoria Hall, 17, more than 25 years ago (Suffolk Police)

Suffolk serial killer Steve Wright has pleaded guilty to killing 17-year-old Victoria Hall, his sixth murder victim – nearly three decades after she died.

Wright, now 67, had been due to go on trial at the Old Bailey for murdering the teenager, who disappeared more than 25 years ago.

But the killer – sometimes referred to as the ‘Suffolk strangler’ – dramatically changed his plea on Monday and finally admitted Victoria’s kidnap “by force or fraud” and murder on 19 September 1999.

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

It is the first time that one of Britain's most notorious killers has admitted responsibility for any of his crimes, despite pleas from his family to come clean.

Balding and bespectacled Wright appeared in the dock of the Old Bailey in a navy and grey jumper, and spoke only to confirm his name and enter pleas.

Court artist sketch of Steve Wright in June 2024 (PA)

Mr Justice Bennathan said he would sentence the killer on Friday to give Ms Hall’s family the chance to attend and submit victim impact statements.

Former merchant seaman Wright, who is being held at Category A HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire, is already serving a whole life prison sentence for the murders of five women seven years after Victoria was killed.

The guilty pleas come after Mr Justice Bennathan ruled that jurors in the scheduled trial could be told of his murder convictions. Prosecutors had argued there were similarities between the murders, pointing out that all six women were asphyxiated, left in similar places and shared a physical type.

The prosecution also argued for the trial to include evidence of a sex worker that Wright knew well, who claimed he was familiar with the area linked to Victoria’s murder.

Victoria, from Trimley St Mary in Suffolk, had left her home on the evening of 18 September 1999 for a night-out with a friend at the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe.

But the sixth-former, who was hoping to study sociology at university in Roehampton, Surrey, vanished after saying goodnight to her friend.

Five days later her body was found in a ditch in Creeting St Peter, around 25 miles from where she was last seen.

A year after her murder, her parents Graham and Lorinda Hall had appealed for help to catch her killer. Sadly, Mrs Hall died last December, before her daughter’s murderer could be brought to justice.

Serial killer Steve Wright has admitted another murder (Suffolk Police)

Following the guilty pleas, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said justice had finally been achieved for the teenager after 26 years.

Samantha Woolley, a specialist prosecutor who led the case against Wright, said: “The meticulous work we have carried out with Suffolk Police, supporting their restarted investigation over the past six years and working hard to build this case to court, has resulted in Wright admitting his guilt.

“This outcome should make plain that time does not preclude a successful prosecution; we will doggedly pursue justice for the victims of non-recent crimes, no matter how many decades have passed.

“Our thoughts remain with Victoria’s family and all those who loved and cherished her at this incredibly difficult time. We also hold in mind Emily Doherty and her family, and anyone else affected by this tragic case.”

Wright’s crimes terrorised Ipswich as police hunted the serial killer, who targeted five women in a matter of weeks in 2006.

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

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

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

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

The five other victims of Ipswich serial killer Steve Wright are, from the left, Anneli Alderton, Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls (Suffolk Police)

Two of his victims, who were all sex workers in Ipswich’s red light area, had been posed in a cruciform shape with their arms outstretched. All of them had been choked or strangled, according to pathologists.

During a trial at Ipswich Crown Court in 2008, prosecutors said Wright “systematically selected and murdered” the women after stalking streets around his home.

Wright was seen cruising the red light district around the time each of the women vanished. DNA and fibres linked to his clothes, house and car were found on the women.

Wright, a former steward on the QE2, admitted picking up the women for sex on the nights they vanished but denied any involvement in their deaths.

Following his conviction for five murders, the victims’ relatives – and Wright’s father Conrad – said he should have been executed.

Wright will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday.