Ipswich - Ipswich 2006 Serial Murders

Ipswich 2006 Serial Murders

A serial killer or spree killer responsible for the murders of five women in Ipswich gained notoriety in late 2006, as the Ipswich Murderer. The five women were identified as prostitutes; their bodies were found in December 2006. Suffolk Constabulary formally linked the murders in their investigation.

Steven Gerald James Wright, who had previously worked at the Port of Felixstowe, was arrested at his house in Ipswich on 19 December. On 21 December, Wright was formally charged with the murders of Gemma Adams, 25, Anneli Alderton, 24, Tania Nicol, 19, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29. He appeared in Ipswich Magistrates' Court on 22 December 2006 and was remanded in custody until 2 January 2007 to appear in Ipswich Crown Court where he was remanded in custody for a second court appearance, held on 1 May 2007. At that hearing he pleaded not guilty to all five murders. His trial began in Ipswich on 14 January 2008. The jury returned a guilty verdict on 21 February, and the next day, Wright was sentenced to life imprisonment by Mr Justice Gross, who recommended that he should never be released from prison, on the basis that the murders resulted from a "substantial degree of pre-meditation and planning". A three-episode dramatised television series, entitled 'Five Daughters', based on the serial murders of the five prostitutes, was screened on BBC1. Alecky Blythe wrote the musical 'London Road', based on interviews with residents of London Road, the Ipswich street where murderer Steve Wright lived (and where he was thought to have murdered several of the victims) which has been performed several times at The National Theatre.