08 December 2023 , 09:59
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Serial killer Steve Wright disturbingly displayed his victims' bodies in the same way and got a 'thrill' out of police seeing 'his work', according to a true crime expert.
Wright, known as the Suffolk Strangler, targeted sex workers and murdered five women over six weeks in 2006, before dumping their bodies in Ipswich. The 65-year-old, who was handed a whole-life order for his heinous crimes in 2008, has been re-arrested in connection with the unsolved murder of a teenage girl over two decades ago.
Victoria Hall, 17, was last seen in the early hours of September 19, 1999, and her naked body was found five days later in a ditch. Wright was initially arrested in July 2021 in connection with her murder and taken into custody for questioning but remains under investigation. Suffolk Police did not name Wright but said the suspect had now been released from police custody.
Victoria Hall, 17, was found dead five days after vanishing in 1999 (PA)
Victoria's naked body was horrifically found in a ditch and her murder was never solved (Suffolk Police / SWNS)A spokesman said: "The same man was re-arrested on suspicion of murder and taken into police custody for questioning, before being released under investigation pending further enquiries." Wright was living just half a mile away from Victoria at the time of her murder. The teenager had gone out for a night out with a friend at the Bandbox nightclub in Bent Hill, Felixstowe, and never made it back home.
Wright was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Annette Nicholls, 29, Gemma Adams, 25, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Tania Nicol, 19, in 2008, and was told his "targeted campaign of murder" warranted the harshest punishment available to the judge. The twisted killer would arrange some of his victims' bodies into the shape of a crucifix, with their arms stretched out on either side.
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According to experts, the way he displayed their corpses gave Wright 'a thrill' and he wanted police to see 'his work'. On The Killer in My Family series in 2019, TV psychologist and true crime presenter Emma Kenny suggested that Wright enjoyed the 'drama' of his killings. "Steve Wright chose to position two of the women's bodies in the crucifix position. One, probably to try and throw the police off course because the other bodies hadn't been dealt with that way," she explained.
"Secondly, potentially for dramatic effect, because unusually a lot of killers like to leave their 'work' with a certain mark. Most importantly because there was some thrill at the end of doing that, of creating that and making that body look a certain way. So, he was enjoying his work."
Wright's father, Conrad Wright, told BBC News in 2015, he felt some guilt for his son's crimes. "You feel sort of responsible in a way - you brought the boy on to the Earth - and if it weren't for you, he wouldn't have been there, and if he weren't here, they wouldn't be killed, would they?" he said.
"You can't just sit back and say 'it's nothing to do with me', because it is. It feels rough, really." Mr Wright said his relationship with his son is "non-existent" now. "I haven't heard from him, even prior to the court case, not a word. All I had one day was a call from his solicitor asking if I could supply him with some cigarette money," he said.