In a dramatic courtroom development, notorious serial killer Steve Wright has confessed to murder for the very first time, admitting to the killing of 17-year-old Victoria Hall over two decades ago. The 67-year-old, known as the Suffolk Strangler, unexpectedly entered a guilty plea on the opening day of his highly anticipated trial at the Old Bailey.
Shock Confession After Decades of Denial
Wright, who is currently serving a whole life sentence at Long Lartin Prison in Worcestershire for the murders of five sex workers in 2006, had previously denied any responsibility for his crimes despite overwhelming forensic evidence. Today marked a historic reversal as he finally admitted his role in Victoria Hall's 1999 abduction and murder.
Appearing balding and bespectacled in a grey and black jumper, Wright answered 'yes' to confirm his identity before pleading guilty to both the kidnap and murder of Ms Hall and the attempted kidnap of 22-year-old Emily Doherty, which occurred just 24 hours earlier in the same area.
The 1999 Felixstowe Abduction
Seven years before his infamous killing spree in Ipswich's red-light district, Wright snatched the A-level student from the streets of Felixstowe as she walked home from Bandbox nightclub on September 19, 1999. Victoria had been returning from a night out with her best friend Gemma Algar when the pair separated just 300 yards from her home in Trimley St Mary.
Witnesses reported hearing 'horrifying screams' and the sound of a car with a 'throaty exhaust' screeching away around 2.30am. Victoria's parents raised the alarm at 8.20am when they discovered she was not in her bedroom, having expected her to take a taxi home after running out of money.
Discovery and Investigation
Five days later, Victoria's body was discovered by a dogwalker in a ditch 25 miles away in Creeting St Peter. In chilling similarities to two of Wright's later victims, the teenager was found naked in a stream and had been asphyxiated without evidence of sexual assault.
The investigation initially focused on local businessman Adrian Bradshaw, whose Porsche had a noisy exhaust and who had been at the same nightclub. Despite forensic scientists finding mud grains on his accelerator pedal that were claimed to be of 'remarkable' similarity to soil from the ditch, jurors acquitted him in just 90 minutes after hearing the sample could have come from anywhere in East Anglia.
Cold Case Breakthrough
The case remained unsolved for decades until cold case officers revisited the investigation in 2019. They released CCTV footage showing a man in a white van returning to the scene where Victoria's body was dumped three weeks after her death. Following a Crimewatch appeal, a member of the public came forward to report that Wright owned a similar vehicle and closely matched the man's profile.
Wright was arrested in prison in July 2021 and interviewed by officers. He was formally charged in 2024 after new forensic techniques revealed a definitive link to the serial killer for the first time. At the time of Victoria's murder, Wright was not on any police database, with his DNA only being added two years later when he was convicted of stealing from a bar.
Patterns and Questions
The confession raises inevitable questions about how many more victims Wright may have claimed during the intervening years. Since being sentenced to a whole life tariff for the five 2006 murders in 2008, there have been persistent questions about other unsolved cases, with Wright previously being linked to high-profile disappearances including that of Suzy Lamplugh, with whom he had worked on the QE2.
Tragically, Victoria's mother Lorinda Hall died in December, just weeks before Wright's trial was due to begin, having waited decades for justice. Her father Graham Hall has endured the prolonged investigation and legal proceedings alone.
Wright's guilty plea to 'force or fraud taking or carrying away Victoria Hall against her will' and the attempted kidnap of Emily Doherty represents a significant moment in British criminal history, marking the first time one of the country's most notorious killers has admitted responsibility for any of his crimes.
