Suffolk serial killer Steve Wright was a “predator stalking for his prey” when he abducted and murdered teenager Victoria Hall 26 years ago, a court heard.
The 17-year-old sixth former was walking home from a night out with her best friend at a club in Felixstowe in 1999 when she was kidnapped by the predator, then aged 41.
Her naked body was found by a dog walker five days later in a ditch in Creeting St Peter, around 25 miles from where she was last seen.
Her horrific murder remained unsolved for 26 years until Wright – known as the Suffolk Strangler – shockingly changed his plea and admitted his guilt on Monday. He also admitted attempting to kidnap Emily Doherty, 22, the night before, who fears Ms Hall would still be alive today if police had taken her ordeal more seriously.
It is the first time Wright, who is already serving a whole life sentence for strangling five women in Ipswich seven years later, in 2006 – has ever taken responsibility for any of his crimes.
At his sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, the ageing serial killer, now 67, wore a grey Nike tracksuit and was flanked by three dock officers as details of the harrowing crimes were laid out in court.
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC said: “On the weekend of 18-19 September 1999, the defendant, driving his burgundy Ford Granada Scorpio, was on the prowl in Felixstowe, a port town on the Suffolk coast.
“Almost undoubtedly sexually motivated, he was a predator stalking for his prey: looking for a young woman to kidnap.”
The Old Bailey heard that Wright, who was employed on the mooring team at Felixstowe docks at the time of the attacks, was “very physically strong”.
Ms Doherty, who was newlywed and due to travel to India for her honeymoon the next day, sensed danger and armed herself with a stick when she saw Wright in the early hours of 18 September 1999. She sprinted away and escaped the killer by frantically knocking on a couple’s front door, who let her inside.
However, in the early hours of the following morning, he did not allow Ms Hall, aged 17, to “escape his predatory clutches”, Ms Ledward said.
The schoolgirl, from Trimley St Mary, had left home on the evening of 18 September 1999 for a night out at the Bandbox nightclub in neighbouring Felixstowe. She and her best friend left the venue at around 1am the following morning and walked back, saying goodnight at 2.20am, just 300 metres from Ms Hall’s home.
“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 has 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.”
The prosecutor said Ms Hall’s body was discarded naked but for her jewellery “as if she were no more important than a disposable commodity”.
The fact her body had been left in the open had caused “untold” distress to her family, including her mother who tragically died before Wright was brought to justice.
Following the murder, Wright reported an injury at work and sold his Ford Granada Scorpio as he prepared to leave the country, the court heard. In November 1999 he travelled to Thailand for two months.
In 2001, police accused an innocent businessman of Ms Hall’s murder, but he was acquitted by a jury in less than 90 minutes.
In a victim impact statement read by the prosecutor, Emily Doherty said she was stalked for what seemed like 40 minutes by the killer.
“I had never been so scared in my life,” she said. “When a couple finally let me in their house to call the police I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest.”
However, when officers arrived they did not take her seriously and the first question they asked was “how have you had to drink tonight”.
“To this day I am furious,” she added. “I wasn’t taken seriously. I was made to feel like a silly little girl.”
She questioned whether Victoria would still be alive if police had responded differently and taken her statement, which included a partial number plate for her attacker.
“For 25 years, I have wondered what if,” she said. “What if they had taken my statement, could Victoria still be alive right now? Or at the least, they could have found the murderer sooner.”
Ms Ledward revealed Wright had been identified as the keeper of one of 56 cars which matched Ms Doherty’s description – and his details printed out on 14-15 October 1999. This shortlist was further narrowed over the following year, after Ms Doherty recalled a further digit of the number plate, reducing the number of matching vehicles to 10, including Wright’s car.
Astonishingly, Wright was not formally identified as a suspect in Ms Hall’s murder until a cold case review in June 2020.
Suffolk Police will consider holding an inquiry into the missed opportunities to catch the killer after today’s sentencing hearing, Ms Ledward added.
Fighting back tears in the court, Ms Algar said she and Ms Hall were “inseparable” and were excited to turn 18.
But life “changed forever” on that fateful day, adding she will never forget the “sick feeling” in her stomach after she realised her friend never made it home safely.
She added: “I have replayed countless ‘if only’ and ‘what ifs’ over the years. We felt safe in our home town and that sense of safety was taken away forever.”
Ms Hall’s grieving father said he will miss her “every day for the rest of my life”.
In a statement read by his son Steven, he added: “Steve Wright robbed us of seeing her grow into a woman”, including “fulfilling her dream” of going to university.
In his own victim impact statement, Steven said that their family had been forced into “an exclusive club that nobody wants to be part of” as a result of the horrific murder, which turned their world upside down.
“Victoria was only 17 years old, with so much life left to live – uni, a career, marriage, kids,” he continued.
“It’s an unbearable pain to know that my mum and dad never got to see her do any of those things.”
He added: “I have had 26 years of not knowing what happened to my sister. I have had a life sentence in itself. The conclusion of this doesn’t bring closure, it only answers the question of who did it.”
Wright is already serving a rare whole life order after he terrorised Ipswich in a six-week killing spree in 2006, targeting five women who he snatched from the town’s red light area.
Tania Nicol, 19, vanished on 30 October that year, followed by Gemma Adams, 25, around two weeks later, triggering a major inquiry. Ms Adams’s body was found in a stream on 2 December, followed by the discovery of Ms Nicol’s remains in a pond on 8 December.
The remains of Anneli Alderton, 24, were found two days later in woods, 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.
The sentencing hearing continues.
More follows on this breaking news story…
