Serial killer Steve Wright, known as the Suffolk Strangler, has pleaded guilty to the murder of 17-year-old Victoria Hall, a crime he had denied for over two decades. Wright, 67, appeared at the Old Bailey in London on Monday, where he admitted to kidnapping and murdering the teenager in September 1999, as well as the attempted kidnap of Emily Doherty, then 22, the day before.
Victoria's disappearance and death had remained unsolved until now. She vanished during a night out with a friend at the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe on 18 September 1999. Her body was found five days later in a ditch in Creeting St Peter, Suffolk. Wright is already serving a whole-life sentence for the murders of five women in Ipswich in 2006, known as the Suffolk murders.
The guilty plea came after the judge ruled that jurors could be told of Wright's previous convictions, despite his defence's objections. The prosecution highlighted similarities between Victoria's murder and the earlier ones: all six women were asphyxiated, left in similar locations, and shared a physical type. Wright had originally been due to stand trial but changed his plea at the last minute.
Mr Justice Bennathan said he would sentence Wright on Friday, allowing Victoria's family time to attend and submit victim impact statements. Victoria's mother, Lorinda Hall, died in December before seeing justice done. Her father, Graham Hall, had previously appealed for help, saying the killer must be under pressure from his conscience.
Wright, a former merchant seaman, was convicted in 2008 of murdering five women in Ipswich: Tania Nicol, Gemma Adams, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell, and Annette Nicholls. All were sex workers who were strangled and left in rural areas. During his trial, prosecutors said Wright systematically selected and murdered them. His father, Conrad Wright, later said he should have been executed.
