Serial Killer Documentary - Steve Wright： The Prostitute Serial Killer

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You going to book me?
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I got a mug here.
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Is that gorgeous or what, eh?
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And I believe I can run to see some marathons.
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Download Vealy now.
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During the winter of 2006, Ipswich in Suffolk was paralysed
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with fear. The bodies of five missing prostitutes had been
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found by police, sparking the biggest ever manhunt in the
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east of England.
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He's targeting these women because they are vulnerable, because they
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are easy for him to access and easy for him
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to control.
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As the horror began to unravel, it became a race
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against time to catch the killer. The police questioned over 2,000
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motorists with no success.
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He had to be caught because he wouldn't stop until
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he was.
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Steve Wright, through this whole period... was sitting at home
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watching this whole drama played out on 24-hour news channels,
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thinking to himself, I'm doing this, I'm controlling this, I'm
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going to try and get away with this.
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Steve Wright, the man dubbed the Suffolk Strangler, had earned
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his place as one of the world's most evil killers.
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MUSIC PLAYS.
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Steve Wright is one of Britain's most prolific serial killers.
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In the space of just six weeks during the winter
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of 2006, he murdered five young women who were working
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as prostitutes on the streets of Ipswich. As the girls
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disappeared one by one, the world's media descended upon Suffolk.
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There was an inevitability with each breaking news report that
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another body.
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Would be found.
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Two bodies have been found near Ipswich. This is breaking
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news and we're giving it to you as we get it.
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But Steve Wright's story begins over 40 years before. Wright
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was born in the Norfolk village of Irpingham in 1958,
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one of four children. He grew up in a military family,
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living on RAF bases around the world with his father, Conrad,
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a retired corporal.
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He was a normal child. No aggression.
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Typical boy.
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Just wanted to play.
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But family life was far from happy and Wright's mother
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left when he was just eight years old. Wright and
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his siblings stayed with their father, who went on to remarry.
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Whilst he was living with me, there was never a problem,
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you know, never see one even.
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He was happy.
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He had little barnies, I suppose, with his stepmother at
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times when he weren't a bit mischievous, if you like,
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but it was nothing that you would sort of think
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about an hour later.
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Steve was not a particularly bright young man, but cheery
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enough in his own way. left school at 16 without
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any qualifications to speak of, and got a job working
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as a chef on the ferries which sailed from Felixstowe
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to the Continent.
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By the early 1980s, Wright had become a steward on
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the cruise ship the QE2, and it was during this
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time he reportedly spent money on sex workers during trips
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to Thailand, which some experts believe may have altered his
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perception towards the opposite sex.
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I think he's got an expectation of women. Women are
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there to perform a service for him, to play a
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particular role. They serve a function for him. And that's
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something that we continually see throughout the rest of his life.
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He would often return home from sea penniless.
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He was a bit of a loner, like, in a way.
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He didn't mix that much. But he did come out
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with me at the weekends, when he lived here especially,
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because he looked after the dogs when I had two then.
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Copped the beers down the end of the road.
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Normal.
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So Steve Wright was a performer. He was performing a
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role as a guy who was interested in playing golf
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and going to the pub and going on holiday. He
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appeared to be somebody who was normal, somebody who fitted in,
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but behind that, there was something altogether different going on.
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Wright married twice, but both ended in divorce with rumours
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of domestic violence. He struggled to hold down a job
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and ran up large gambling debts.
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I knew he'd put money on the horses. because when
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he got his wage from the bingo hall, I used
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to take his wages off him, believe it or not,
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and I said, I'll give you enough to see you
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through the week, because I wanted him to build up
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a kitty to sort himself out.
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Wright continued to gamble and was eventually declared bankrupt. Unable
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to see a way out of his debts, he tried, unsuccessfully,
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to take his own life.
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For him to want to gas himself in a car,
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it must have been something that I went a lot of.
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aware of for.
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Him to get pushed to that limit. Whether he was
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trying to befriend young females, I think the girls that
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he was getting, they were younger than him, and whether
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in the end they turned him down and he couldn't
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face it or something, and he felt rejected or whatever,
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I don't know. When he was here, there weren't a problem.
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Where did he get them? Did he get so much
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in the debt that it pressurised him so much that
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he just broke?
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I think Steve Wright's alleged suicide attempts are quite significant.
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So what does suicide represent? It represents somebody trying to
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get control back, somebody whose life has kind of gone
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beyond their grip and they're desperately trying to reel that
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power back in. And I think for Steve Wright, If
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we look at some of his earlier experiences, this is
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somebody who came to crave control. He wasn't in control
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of his life as a child. The family were moving around.
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It was quite transient. It was quite chaotic. And as
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an adult, I think he felt an intense need to
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be in control. And that was what he was essentially
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doing here. He was internalizing. So he was being violent
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towards himself.
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In 2002, while working as a barman, Wright, now age 44,
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was arrested for stealing £ 80 from the pub till to
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pay off his escalating debt. This petty theft would later
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contribute to his downfall.
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He'd been to court because he'd taken money from the till.
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But he kept that from me anyway. So, again, if
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he can keep one thing from you, can he keep others?
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By October 2006, 48-year-old Wright was living with a new
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girlfriend on London Road, in the heart of Ipswich's red-light district.
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In the same month, 19-year-old Tanya Nicol went missing from
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her home.
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She came round to mine by 8 o'clock at night,
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something like that, and she wanted to lift home, so
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I gave her a lift. I didn't want to... tell
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her off about anything, you know, but we knew, as
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far as I was concerned, she was taking cannabis and whatever.
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And I didn't know that she was into drugs so heavily,
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you see. You don't know. We just talked like friends.
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When we got there, she just got out of the car.
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One of the things I noticed was she just walked
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straight into the house, whereas, you know, you might turn
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around and give a little wave. but she just walked
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straight in. So I suppose that's sort of like this
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drug stuff, it dulls your senses to a lot of things.
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So it robs you of your life, really. And that
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was the last time I saw her.
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The family was unaware that Tanya was living a double
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life as a prostitute to fund her addiction to heroin.
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I didn't know that until afterwards. Obviously she was doing
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that to feed her habit, isn't it? That's what I've
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been told, you know.
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Before 2006, Ipswich, like many market towns of this size
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in the UK, experienced problems with drugs. We had a
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quite vivid and lively street prostitution scene. There was around,
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in the summer of 2006, we'd done some research and
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identified around 70-odd women that were working on the streets
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of Ipswich as prostitutes. The main issue, obviously, why they're
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out on the streets in the first instance, all these
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women were out there to feed a drug habit.
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They were all class A addicts.
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Another young woman working on the streets of Ipswich in
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2006 was Jade Reynolds.
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Every morning I'd wake up, you know, I have a
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heroin addiction to fund, you know, so unless you've probably
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saved money from working on the streets the night before,
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you've either got to lay there not very well for
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the morning and for the day, and then I'd get
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up at night time, put on make up and clothes
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and pretty much go and sell myself down on the street,
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you know. It was cold, dark, you know, very dangerous.
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but you don't think about the danger, you really just
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go out there and do what you've got to do.
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But it wasn't a good lifestyle, it wasn't an easy lifestyle, really.
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There is a lot of emotion that go with it
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and you either have to learn to switch it off
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or let it overrun you, you know? And heroin is
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an easy way to switch off all your emotions.
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After Tanya Nicholls' family hadn't heard from her for 48 hours,
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they reported her as missing. Police began to investigate, but
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it appeared she'd just vanished off the face of the earth.
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We possibly thought she went with a load of people
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down to London somewhere and just stayed in a house
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or something like that.
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Prostitutes go missing all the time, change cities. That's not unusual.
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Very seldom do they have many relatives who will identify
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their disappearance. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.
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As time passed, Jim became increasingly concerned about his daughter.
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You're terribly... You're worried beyond... You just go out of
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your head, you know. You just... You just can't think straight.
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You know, you're so worried. It really hits you for six.
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And I think after about two or three weeks, it
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was sheer hell not knowing where she was.
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And.
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By then, you know that something's up.
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While Jim waited desperately for any news about his daughter, Tanya,
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on November the 15th, another young woman was reported missing,
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25-year-old Gemma Adams.
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For Gemma to go missing, that's when you worry, because
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Gemma would never go missing. You know, she's not like that.
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You know, she's always certain times, certain places, this, that, that,
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you know. Yeah, so that was... When Gemma went, that's
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when you knew something was wrong.
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The police stopped nearly 2,000 people and over 500 cars
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travelling through Ipswich's red-light district to see if anyone recognised
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photos of Tanya and Gemma. But they drew a blank.
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And it was a similar story when they spoke to
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the local sex workers.
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You don't report every attack, but there's loads of times
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where we get people trying to steal our handbags or, like...
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trying to accost us because we're saying no to them.
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You are worried and you are scared thinking, hang on,
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Gemma's gone now. I didn't know Tanya, but she's gone.
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Where are they? And you think, yeah, it could be me.
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I could be next, but I've got to go and
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get my money for my drugs. And you have to
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go out there. You have to learn to put emotions
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to the back of your mind while you're out on
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the street. I can then go home and be really scared.
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But if I was going to be scared that the
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girls are going missing, I'm not going to be able
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to earn the money for my drug addiction.
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Then, on December 2nd, 2006, the police got the call
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they'd been dreading. A body had been found in a
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brook on the outskirts of town.
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Right on the bend, right on the corner, with her
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head this end, facing upstream, her legs downstream, arms beside
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her body. Saw the hair flowing and the golden earring,
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and the head was on its side, and my immediate
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thought was.
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one of the missing girls.
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Tanya's father, Jim Jewell, feared the worst.
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By this time, I concluded that she'd gone, quite honestly.
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I concluded that she was dead. That's what I concluded.
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Because by this time, she would have phoned her mother.
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Because she always phones her mother if she's going to
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be back late or anything. She was good at it.
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But it wasn't Tanya. Police identified the body as that
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of 25-year-old Gemma Adams. There was no sign of a
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sexual assault, but her naked body had been dumped in
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flowing water. So finding any DNA evidence was going to
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be difficult.
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When someone dies, then there will be all sorts of
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evidence on the body, in the body, that tells you
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all sorts of information. If you leave a body in
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running water... then the water will quite literally wash away evidence. Equally,
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the water will bring other things onto the body that
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can contaminate it. So you've got a double problem, really,
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of things being lost and things being brought to the body,
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which makes interpretation more difficult.
245
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Unsurprisingly, the media were starting to take notice, including Paul
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00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:38.850
Harrison of Sky News.
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00:14:40.230 --> 00:14:42.149
My boss said to me that I should go to
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00:14:42.210 --> 00:14:47.570
Ipswich at the weekend. One body had been discovered. To him,
249
00:14:47.730 --> 00:14:51.580
something didn't seem quite right. He wanted me to get
250
00:14:51.620 --> 00:14:53.580
under the surface of what was happening in the red
251
00:14:53.620 --> 00:14:57.899
light district because we knew that two prostitutes had gone missing.
252
00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:01.279
So what was this all about? Was this going to
253
00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:02.279
be something bigger?
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00:15:03.240 --> 00:15:07.659
For a week, forensic teams scoured nearby woodlands for clues,
255
00:15:08.100 --> 00:15:12.000
and divers explored the brook. Then, just when they were
256
00:15:12.059 --> 00:15:16.100
about to call off the search, divers found another body.
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00:15:16.860 --> 00:15:19.639
This time, it was Tanya Nicol.
258
00:15:20.990 --> 00:15:23.090
I think when I got the actual news, I can't
259
00:15:23.110 --> 00:15:26.309
remember my reaction, because it was something like, well, that's,
260
00:15:26.529 --> 00:15:30.370
you know... In my heart, I knew already.
261
00:15:32.059 --> 00:15:35.519
Just like Gemma Adams, there was no sign of sexual
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00:15:35.570 --> 00:15:39.450
assault and the rushing water had stripped Tanya's body of
263
00:15:39.529 --> 00:15:44.769
any DNA evidence. Suffolk Police called on Commander David Johnston
264
00:15:44.850 --> 00:15:47.909
from Scotland Yard, a homicide expert.
265
00:15:49.250 --> 00:15:52.500
So I joined the investigation around the time the second
266
00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:57.679
victim body had been discovered and that initially meant I
267
00:15:57.720 --> 00:16:00.000
went to Suffolk to speak to the chief officer team
268
00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:01.700
to assess the situation.
269
00:16:02.250 --> 00:16:04.080
I'm not sure I would say they were overwhelmed.
270
00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:08.019
I think they recognized the need to bring additional resources
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00:16:08.100 --> 00:16:11.080
in to avoid that situation, and that's what they did.
272
00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:15.259
And Suffolk, I know, had probably 100 to 200 people
273
00:16:15.789 --> 00:16:20.429
initially engaged in this inquiry. But that number quickly grew,
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00:16:20.870 --> 00:16:24.070
and Suffolk suddenly found themselves, of course, at the center
275
00:16:24.090 --> 00:16:28.679
of a huge incident with significant media interest globally.
276
00:16:32.330 --> 00:16:36.269
So by the time they discovered the body of Tanya Nicol,
277
00:16:36.710 --> 00:16:40.509
we had already begun to spend a bit of time
278
00:16:40.549 --> 00:16:44.570
in the Red Light District late in the evening, early
279
00:16:44.590 --> 00:16:48.850
in the morning, just to see how prevalent prostitution was
280
00:16:48.870 --> 00:16:54.870
in Ipswich. And it wasn't difficult to find girls on
281
00:16:54.909 --> 00:16:57.769
the streets very late at night. We spoke to a
282
00:16:57.809 --> 00:16:58.370
number of them.
283
00:16:58.850 --> 00:16:59.509
They were aware.
284
00:17:00.059 --> 00:17:04.150
That two girls had gone missing. We were almost delivering
285
00:17:04.210 --> 00:17:07.210
them the news that a second body had been found.
286
00:17:07.769 --> 00:17:11.250
We were almost telling many of these girls for the
287
00:17:11.269 --> 00:17:14.630
very first time that the body of a second woman,
288
00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:19.359
almost certainly a prostitute, and almost certainly Tanya Nicholl, had
289
00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:24.519
been discovered in Kopdark. Their reaction, they weren't fazed by it,
290
00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:24.960
it seems.
291
00:17:25.930 --> 00:17:27.789
It's scary every night going out on the streets. It's
292
00:17:27.809 --> 00:17:30.289
scary every night. You could get attacked every night, you know.
293
00:17:31.130 --> 00:17:33.789
To be honest, it doesn't matter how scary anything is, really,
294
00:17:34.009 --> 00:17:35.180
you've still got to go out there and do it.
295
00:17:36.309 --> 00:17:38.190
It tears at your heart and you think, oh, God,
296
00:17:38.670 --> 00:17:42.099
you know, what's happening? Who's next, you know? But even
297
00:17:42.140 --> 00:17:44.740
though you're discussing what if it could be me, you're
298
00:17:44.779 --> 00:17:46.640
still out there on the streets and you're still selling
299
00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:48.819
yourself because you still have a drug addiction to feed.
300
00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:50.720
You've got to put all them worries to the back
301
00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:51.119
of your mind.
302
00:17:52.019 --> 00:17:54.960
Police were at a dead end. They had no clues
303
00:17:55.299 --> 00:17:59.019
and nothing to link the two murders. They watched hours
304
00:17:59.099 --> 00:18:03.890
of CCTV footage from Ipswich's red light district and finally
305
00:18:04.009 --> 00:18:08.109
found something of significance. Tanya had been caught getting into
306
00:18:08.150 --> 00:18:11.630
a dark car on the night of her disappearance. Could
307
00:18:11.670 --> 00:18:14.089
the driver of the car be the killer?
308
00:18:16.500 --> 00:18:19.500
Hanford Road, Burlington Road, that was a place you would
309
00:18:19.539 --> 00:18:22.960
stand there, which went out at night on that corner.
310
00:18:23.430 --> 00:18:28.400
and they found footage of just a brief glimpse.
311
00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:34.200
The CCTV was captured outside of a supermarket on London Road,
312
00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:39.269
the same street where Steve Wright was living. Unfortunately, the
313
00:18:39.309 --> 00:18:42.769
footage wasn't clear enough to reveal a number plate or
314
00:18:42.869 --> 00:18:44.109
identify the driver.
315
00:18:46.150 --> 00:18:50.039
From my point of view, it's professionally very frustrating. The whole.
316
00:18:50.619 --> 00:18:52.980
Emphasis of our role is to protect the public, and
317
00:18:53.009 --> 00:18:55.869
we take that very seriously. And so each day when
318
00:18:55.890 --> 00:19:00.529
we're carrying out the investigation and trying to identify this offender,
319
00:19:00.990 --> 00:19:04.069
it's very concerning to us when we still don't have
320
00:19:04.109 --> 00:19:05.470
an identification made.
321
00:19:07.029 --> 00:19:09.930
It had been eight days since Gemma Adams had been
322
00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:15.259
found murdered. As the police continued with their investigation, they
323
00:19:15.299 --> 00:19:20.309
received some more shocking news. On December 10th, Just two
324
00:19:20.369 --> 00:19:24.049
days after the discovery of Tanya Nicol, the body of
325
00:19:24.109 --> 00:19:28.210
a third woman was found in a woodland in nearby Nacton.
326
00:19:29.779 --> 00:19:34.559
The 10th was a huge day, really. I had literally
327
00:19:34.579 --> 00:19:38.000
driven out of Ipswich for about 10 miles when I
328
00:19:38.019 --> 00:19:41.559
got a phone call from the news desk. And the
329
00:19:41.619 --> 00:19:45.289
blood really felt like it drained from my face, from
330
00:19:45.309 --> 00:19:49.750
my body, because shivers down the spine... We were now
331
00:19:49.890 --> 00:19:51.529
in serial killer territory.
332
00:19:52.650 --> 00:19:54.049
I think it would be fair to say, yes, there
333
00:19:54.089 --> 00:19:58.440
was extreme concern being expressed in Ipswich, not just amongst
334
00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:03.220
sex workers or women involved in that line of work,
335
00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:04.119
but across the.
336
00:20:04.099 --> 00:20:05.019
Whole of the community.
337
00:20:05.819 --> 00:20:10.480
This was a significant event, completely unparalleled, as far as
338
00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:12.740
I know, in the history of Ipswich and that area,
339
00:20:13.099 --> 00:20:15.160
which is normally a very quiet, rural town.
340
00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:18.410
We were now dealing with a serial killer, almost certainly,
341
00:20:18.910 --> 00:20:22.869
and also, whilst the national media, the UK media, were
342
00:20:22.890 --> 00:20:25.849
all over it by now, this is when you began
343
00:20:25.990 --> 00:20:29.599
to see the beginnings of the international interest in it
344
00:20:29.700 --> 00:20:30.000
as well.
345
00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:34.269
Distinctive tattoos on the third body led the police to
346
00:20:34.349 --> 00:20:38.930
identify her as Annelie Alderton, who'd not been reported missing.
347
00:20:39.549 --> 00:20:42.950
She'd also been working as a prostitute in Ipswich. She
348
00:20:42.970 --> 00:20:45.289
was a 24-year-old mother of one.
349
00:20:46.069 --> 00:20:50.589
She was a mad, kind of happy-go-lucky, crazy chick. You know,
350
00:20:50.630 --> 00:20:53.930
I lived in my first squat with Annelie. Really nice girl.
351
00:20:54.970 --> 00:20:56.950
I would say she's like a free spirit, you know,
352
00:20:56.970 --> 00:20:59.930
she's like, you know, great, like, I'm Annie, you know,
353
00:20:59.950 --> 00:21:02.579
this is me, you know, so she's kind of cool, like,
354
00:21:02.619 --> 00:21:03.319
to hang around.
355
00:21:03.160 --> 00:21:03.660
With, you know.
356
00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:09.359
The media's focus on Ipswich intensified even further.
357
00:21:10.180 --> 00:21:14.240
I'd raced back to the scene in Nacton where the
358
00:21:14.279 --> 00:21:18.710
body of Anna Yalderton was discovered. We knew very little
359
00:21:18.750 --> 00:21:22.130
at that stage about in what position it lay, but
360
00:21:22.150 --> 00:21:24.750
what we did know was that it was on dry land.
361
00:21:25.650 --> 00:21:29.059
And this was a twist in the story because the
362
00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:34.220
two previous victims had been deposited in water. So the police,
363
00:21:34.380 --> 00:21:37.460
for them, it was very exciting that in terms of DNA,
364
00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:40.299
this could be something that they could work with.
365
00:21:41.140 --> 00:21:46.210
The autopsy showed that Annalee had been strangled and tragically revealed...
366
00:21:46.200 --> 00:21:47.980
She'd been three months pregnant.
367
00:21:49.579 --> 00:21:53.660
So the evidence that you'd see in a strangulation, you'd
368
00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:55.960
see bruising on and in the neck, you'd often see
369
00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.420
fine pinpoint haemorrhages in the eyes, these things really point
370
00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:01.740
you very directly towards that cause of death.
371
00:22:02.829 --> 00:22:07.230
She'd been left in the crucifix position with her arms outstretched.
372
00:22:08.109 --> 00:22:10.230
There is a tendency to want to attach a lot
373
00:22:10.250 --> 00:22:13.269
of meaning to that. Many people were looking at this
374
00:22:13.470 --> 00:22:17.150
as it unfolded, saying, well, there's some religious motivation here.
375
00:22:17.430 --> 00:22:19.470
But I don't think it was about that at all.
376
00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:25.819
It was about essentially getting attention. Even serial killers get bored.
377
00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:27.640
They want to mix things up a bit. They want
378
00:22:27.660 --> 00:22:28.720
to try something new.
379
00:22:29.619 --> 00:22:33.859
The police still had no DNA, no clues, and no leads.
380
00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:37.680
The pressure to catch the killer was mounting.
381
00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:41.589
There's always pressure because you have the media, who are
382
00:22:41.670 --> 00:22:47.049
consistently requiring information because there's 24-hour media. They want to
383
00:22:47.089 --> 00:22:50.950
know what's happening. There's anxiety being expressed in the community. And,
384
00:22:50.970 --> 00:22:53.190
of course, the police themselves want to catch this man
385
00:22:53.230 --> 00:22:54.190
as quickly as possible.
386
00:22:54.650 --> 00:22:56.670
I'm losing my friends. I don't want to keep losing
387
00:22:56.690 --> 00:22:58.089
my friends. I don't want to lose my own life.
388
00:22:58.130 --> 00:23:00.359
You do think about stuff like that. It's not something
389
00:23:00.380 --> 00:23:01.210
that you don't think about.
390
00:23:01.930 --> 00:23:05.759
The world's media descended on Ipswich and the cameras were
391
00:23:05.880 --> 00:23:07.619
all pointed at the police.
392
00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:10.720
I think this case was one that attracted so much
393
00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:13.819
attention because it was unfolding in front of our eyes.
394
00:23:13.900 --> 00:23:17.720
This was the era of reality television when that started
395
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:20.569
to become very popular. We were seeing it as it
396
00:23:20.619 --> 00:23:24.490
unfolded on 24-hour rolling news, and you never knew what
397
00:23:24.529 --> 00:23:26.569
was going to happen from one day to the next.
398
00:23:26.950 --> 00:23:30.630
Detectives told prostitutes to stay off the streets, but their
399
00:23:30.690 --> 00:23:35.170
warnings were largely ignored. A local news crew interviewed one
400
00:23:35.210 --> 00:23:39.380
of the girls anonymously. Why have you decided to come
401
00:23:39.420 --> 00:23:39.819
out tonight?
402
00:23:40.299 --> 00:23:44.170
Because I need the money. I need the money, you know?
403
00:23:45.089 --> 00:23:45.869
Despite the dangers?
404
00:23:46.769 --> 00:23:50.190
Well, that has made me a bit wary about getting into.
405
00:23:50.069 --> 00:23:51.609
Cars, you know?
406
00:23:52.930 --> 00:23:54.450
But presumably you will do that tonight?
407
00:23:55.509 --> 00:23:57.529
Well, probably.
408
00:23:58.509 --> 00:24:00.990
The woman interviewed was Paula Clennell.
409
00:24:01.589 --> 00:24:06.059
Paula Clennell, she had children and she was always trying
410
00:24:06.430 --> 00:24:08.690
quite hard to change her life, You know, she was
411
00:24:08.910 --> 00:24:11.960
happy when she saw her, you know, nice girl, but, yeah,
412
00:24:11.980 --> 00:24:14.240
she tried quite hard, you know, to get out of it,
413
00:24:14.299 --> 00:24:16.240
you know, because it's a very hard thing to get
414
00:24:16.299 --> 00:24:19.099
out of the addiction if you still live generally in
415
00:24:19.140 --> 00:24:23.009
the same town. But, yeah, she was trying, you know,
416
00:24:23.029 --> 00:24:25.210
to get away from it and change her life, bless her.
417
00:24:25.990 --> 00:24:30.490
Just six days after that news report aired, Paula Clennell
418
00:24:31.130 --> 00:24:37.539
was missing. In December 2006, the police in Ipswich were
419
00:24:37.630 --> 00:24:42.799
under mounting pressure to catch a prolific serial killer. The
420
00:24:42.859 --> 00:24:46.400
bodies of three dead prostitutes had been found in just
421
00:24:46.539 --> 00:24:50.990
ten days. They had no clues or potential suspects and
422
00:24:51.049 --> 00:24:55.690
the killing wasn't about to stop. Two more young women
423
00:24:55.750 --> 00:25:00.829
had gone missing. 24-year-old Paula Clennell, who'd been interviewed on
424
00:25:00.869 --> 00:25:05.000
the news just days before, and now police receive reports
425
00:25:05.099 --> 00:25:10.359
of a fifth missing woman, 29-year-old Annette Nicholls, the best
426
00:25:10.420 --> 00:25:13.240
friend of fellow prostitute Jade Reynolds.
427
00:25:15.380 --> 00:25:18.980
Annette was a girl, for me, that I was so
428
00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:22.059
humbled to know. You know, she always... Took time for me.
429
00:25:22.140 --> 00:25:23.380
She'd want to know if I was all right, if
430
00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:25.759
there was anything she could do. She'd do anything for
431
00:25:25.819 --> 00:25:28.579
anybody else. She was always well kept. She'd greet you
432
00:25:28.599 --> 00:25:31.359
with a smile and a happiness. You know, you felt
433
00:25:31.420 --> 00:25:32.960
all right when you was with Annette. I did. I
434
00:25:33.589 --> 00:25:36.089
could think, oh, yeah, wicked. There she is, you know.
435
00:25:36.170 --> 00:25:38.410
It was a relief because I know that I could
436
00:25:38.589 --> 00:25:41.829
talk to her. She'd understand my problems. So when she
437
00:25:41.869 --> 00:25:44.029
went missing, that's kind of like tearing out a piece
438
00:25:44.049 --> 00:25:44.430
of my heart.
439
00:25:45.859 --> 00:25:48.559
As the police searched for Paula and Annette, there was
440
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.119
a macabre inevitability in the air amongst the mass of
441
00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:55.109
international journalists who'd gathered in Ipswich.
442
00:25:56.210 --> 00:26:00.269
There was almost certainly going to be another discovery. Where
443
00:26:00.309 --> 00:26:02.829
was it going to be? Who was it going to be?
444
00:26:03.509 --> 00:26:08.940
It was nail-biting. And whilst it can't be described as fear,
445
00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:12.759
it was really palpable. You sense that from the people
446
00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:16.400
in the town. You sensed it from your colleagues, but
447
00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:19.259
also from other colleagues from other media organisations and the
448
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:19.980
police as well.
449
00:26:21.259 --> 00:26:25.859
On December 12th, another body was found in Levington, just
450
00:26:25.940 --> 00:26:28.990
a mile away from Nacton, in the same woods where
451
00:26:29.109 --> 00:26:32.430
Annalee Alderton had been discovered days before.
452
00:26:33.349 --> 00:26:37.450
While somebody was out walking their dog, they stumbled upon
453
00:26:37.630 --> 00:26:41.650
the body of a fourth victim. just a few metres
454
00:26:41.710 --> 00:26:46.779
away from the main road in Levington, in the undergrowth,
455
00:26:47.259 --> 00:26:52.259
also this time not in water. Again, the DNA was
456
00:26:52.299 --> 00:26:57.319
important in this case. But what seemed quite strange about
457
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:01.289
this one is that it almost had an appearance of
458
00:27:01.529 --> 00:27:06.450
a rushed approach, that this body was deposited by the
459
00:27:06.490 --> 00:27:10.109
side of the road, albeit a few metres off the
460
00:27:10.130 --> 00:27:13.150
main road, It had the appearance, or it seemed as
461
00:27:13.170 --> 00:27:14.549
if it had been done quickly.
462
00:27:15.130 --> 00:27:18.559
The police sent a helicopter up to survey the woodland
463
00:27:18.599 --> 00:27:22.299
for evidence. As it circled the area, they made a
464
00:27:22.380 --> 00:27:26.740
further gruesome discovery. Another body was lying in the woods
465
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:31.380
only 100 yards away. The naked bodies were those of
466
00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:37.170
the missing women, 24-year-old Paula Clunell and 29-year-old Annette Nichols.
467
00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:40.480
I don't think I'll ever get back what I had
468
00:27:40.519 --> 00:27:43.500
with Annette with another girl. You know, this is the
469
00:27:43.539 --> 00:27:46.019
most beautiful woman that I'd ever known, that had become
470
00:27:46.059 --> 00:27:49.410
quite important to me, that I could trust. You know,
471
00:27:49.490 --> 00:27:52.730
and now it's not there. I didn't go out after that.
472
00:27:52.750 --> 00:27:56.630
It was quite sensible, because, like, I couldn't, I emotionally
473
00:27:56.670 --> 00:27:59.759
couldn't go out and work on the streets after Annette
474
00:27:59.799 --> 00:28:00.160
was found.
475
00:28:01.500 --> 00:28:05.279
Five women had been murdered in Ipswich in just six weeks.
476
00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:09.220
The press had named the killer the Suffolk Strangler.
477
00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:15.740
Alderton and Clennell, they were both asphyxiated. That was the
478
00:28:15.779 --> 00:28:20.349
cause of their death. In the other cases, the changes
479
00:28:20.420 --> 00:28:24.650
after death really prevented pathology giving a definitive answer, although
480
00:28:24.670 --> 00:28:28.190
I think it's reasonable to assume that someone who's killing
481
00:28:28.210 --> 00:28:31.200
someone Five people in a short space of time probably
482
00:28:31.259 --> 00:28:32.200
used similar methods.
483
00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:36.619
Interestingly, none of the five victims showed any sign of
484
00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:43.279
sexual assault. So it isn't a rape murder. It's not, oh,
485
00:28:43.309 --> 00:28:45.809
I've satisfied myself, now I'm going to kill you, murder.
486
00:28:46.809 --> 00:28:51.049
It is a targeted murder without a sexual element.
487
00:28:51.869 --> 00:28:56.170
He is very much feeding off the media frenzy that's
488
00:28:56.210 --> 00:29:01.250
being created around his crimes. And he's increasingly feeling even
489
00:29:01.309 --> 00:29:04.609
more in control of what's going on. So he's changing
490
00:29:04.650 --> 00:29:06.410
the way that he's doing things. And he's looking at
491
00:29:06.430 --> 00:29:09.519
the reaction from the media when he does that. And
492
00:29:09.559 --> 00:29:10.799
he's absolutely loving it.
493
00:29:11.640 --> 00:29:16.359
He believes he's fulfilling something. Maybe he's convinced himself that
494
00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:22.329
he's clearing the world of prostitutes. They're all dumped really
495
00:29:22.349 --> 00:29:25.930
quite close to each other. Demonstrates that he thinks he's
496
00:29:26.009 --> 00:29:31.240
doing something. in his own fantasy world that is cleansing
497
00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:34.569
the world of evil or cleansing the world of dirt
498
00:29:34.670 --> 00:29:39.730
or cleansing the world of inappropriate sexual appetite, we'll never know.
499
00:29:40.420 --> 00:29:43.279
I don't think Wright probably knows now. All I do
500
00:29:43.339 --> 00:29:46.480
know is that he had to be caught because he
501
00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:47.579
wouldn't stop until he was.
502
00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:53.960
On December 15th, Tanya Nicholl's dad, Jim Jewell, made an
503
00:29:54.019 --> 00:29:57.569
emotional plea for the killer to turn himself in.
504
00:29:58.839 --> 00:30:02.619
Tanya has been taken by someone who needs to be found.
505
00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:09.210
We ask for anyone who knows this person or persons
506
00:30:10.009 --> 00:30:12.990
to come forward and contact the police.
507
00:30:13.829 --> 00:30:18.049
With increasing pressure to make an arrest, police decided to
508
00:30:18.150 --> 00:30:21.049
question a local 37-year-old man.
509
00:30:21.609 --> 00:30:24.759
He was identified because he had spent considerable time in
510
00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:27.900
a radio car talking to a radio.
511
00:30:27.640 --> 00:30:30.819
Journalist and other TV journalists.
512
00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:33.579
I spent a bit of time with him to try
513
00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:36.940
and get to know his relationship with the girls. There
514
00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:41.240
was a kind of an understanding between them that you
515
00:30:41.259 --> 00:30:42.900
scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
516
00:30:43.460 --> 00:30:47.869
He was loosely associated as a friend of one or
517
00:30:47.930 --> 00:30:50.109
more of the girls who were murdered and at that
518
00:30:50.130 --> 00:30:53.569
stage he became of significant interest to the inquiry. There
519
00:30:53.589 --> 00:30:55.849
was a very strong feeling from some of the media
520
00:30:55.890 --> 00:30:59.299
people present that this man was the right man and
521
00:30:59.339 --> 00:31:00.829
should be looked at more seriously.
522
00:31:01.529 --> 00:31:05.430
With a suspect in custody, detectives received a lead from
523
00:31:05.470 --> 00:31:08.759
the forensics lab. The three bodies that were found on
524
00:31:08.839 --> 00:31:13.089
dry land did have DNA evidence on them. In a
525
00:31:13.309 --> 00:31:17.569
one-in-a-billion chance, the DNA found on all three women was
526
00:31:17.630 --> 00:31:21.210
the same, but whose was it? The DNA was run
527
00:31:21.250 --> 00:31:25.119
through the national database, and police got a match. But
528
00:31:25.140 --> 00:31:28.680
to their surprise, it wasn't the man they had in custody.
529
00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:31.240
At that time, and as it still stands today, if
530
00:31:31.299 --> 00:31:34.680
a person is arrested or convicted of an indictable offense
531
00:31:34.759 --> 00:31:38.059
or a serious offense, they can have their DNA taken
532
00:31:38.099 --> 00:31:39.079
and held on the database.
533
00:31:39.630 --> 00:31:42.680
The DNA matched that of a local man who'd been
534
00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:47.240
convicted of stealing 80 pounds from a pub till in 2002,
535
00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:50.259
48-year-old Steve Wright.
536
00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:54.650
And it was that match which led to significant additional work,
537
00:31:55.109 --> 00:31:59.670
including then the CCTV evidence, which showed a vehicle being
538
00:31:59.730 --> 00:32:02.430
used by Wright moving between some of the locations around
539
00:32:02.450 --> 00:32:06.299
the relevant times. So he became a major suspect in
540
00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:06.819
the inquiry.
541
00:32:09.089 --> 00:32:13.710
Over just six weeks, five prostitutes had been murdered in Ipswich.
542
00:32:14.390 --> 00:32:19.250
The police finally believed they'd found the killer, 48-year-old Steve Wright,
543
00:32:19.690 --> 00:32:22.329
whose DNA had been found on three of the bodies.
544
00:32:23.170 --> 00:32:26.420
Wright had not been a suspect at any point during
545
00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:30.700
the police investigation, even though he had been stopped during
546
00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:35.599
routine checks of the red-light district. Whilst the world's media
547
00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:38.900
was focusing on a local man who police currently had
548
00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:42.660
in custody, Wright was put under surveillance.
549
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.420
Once the police had discovered the DNA, it matched Steve
550
00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:55.309
Wright immediately, although from a distance, making quite a brave move, actually,
551
00:32:56.089 --> 00:32:59.869
not by arresting him straight away, but watching him, seeing
552
00:32:59.930 --> 00:33:02.289
his movements, what was he doing, where was he going,
553
00:33:02.750 --> 00:33:06.910
just for a 24-hour period. And ultimately, as we were
554
00:33:07.009 --> 00:33:12.569
all elsewhere looking at somebody else, another suspect, bang, they
555
00:33:12.630 --> 00:33:15.250
had made an arrest. They'd arrested Steve Wright.
556
00:33:15.970 --> 00:33:19.170
It was a huge shock to Wright's father, Conrad.
557
00:33:19.190 --> 00:33:20.700
I didn't believe it.
558
00:33:20.710 --> 00:33:21.490
It was similar as that.
559
00:33:23.190 --> 00:33:26.789
Two people come to my door to say, your son
560
00:33:26.829 --> 00:33:28.690
has been arrested, and I didn't believe it.
561
00:33:29.460 --> 00:33:31.900
I think the only emotion that Steve Wright would have
562
00:33:31.940 --> 00:33:36.829
felt upon getting arrested was annoyance. This has stopped the
563
00:33:36.869 --> 00:33:39.869
media circus that I've been at the centre of. And
564
00:33:39.890 --> 00:33:45.369
I think also self-pity. Oh, terrible. I'm now going to
565
00:33:45.430 --> 00:33:47.390
be in prison or I'm going to be in a
566
00:33:47.430 --> 00:33:48.890
police station. I'm not going to be able to do
567
00:33:48.930 --> 00:33:52.019
the things I want. He would never have had any
568
00:33:52.099 --> 00:33:55.339
kind of expressed empathy for his victims or their families
569
00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:56.630
because they just didn't matter to him.
570
00:33:57.500 --> 00:33:59.619
At the time I split up with my partner, moved
571
00:33:59.640 --> 00:34:01.980
into my mum's house and I woke up one morning with, uh,
572
00:34:02.839 --> 00:34:05.640
the world's media on my doorstep to put it bluntly.
573
00:34:06.599 --> 00:34:08.750
And they said, did you know Steve Wright was like
574
00:34:09.110 --> 00:34:11.570
a client to your daughter, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
575
00:34:11.630 --> 00:34:14.309
And I didn't even know my mum didn't even know,
576
00:34:14.829 --> 00:34:17.190
you know, but then it all came out, you know,
577
00:34:17.230 --> 00:34:20.110
that it turned out he's actually my first partner, which
578
00:34:20.170 --> 00:34:22.920
was shocking, you know? And I thought, Oh my God,
579
00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:27.360
I was right with him right there, right then, you know? And, uh, Yeah,
580
00:34:27.639 --> 00:34:31.010
I was kind of shocked, really. Really shocked, to be honest,
581
00:34:31.030 --> 00:34:33.369
thinking I was that close to him. Made me feel sick.
582
00:34:34.510 --> 00:34:38.869
During eight hours of interrogation, Wright made no comment.
583
00:34:39.630 --> 00:34:43.239
The no comment at police interviews is indicative of that
584
00:34:43.300 --> 00:34:45.880
power and that control. So I have all of this
585
00:34:45.940 --> 00:34:48.500
knowledge and all of this information. I know everything about
586
00:34:48.519 --> 00:34:51.099
these crimes and you want that knowledge. So I'm going
587
00:34:51.119 --> 00:34:54.679
to use this to my advantage. He knows everything that
588
00:34:54.739 --> 00:34:56.650
the police want to know. And is he going to
589
00:34:56.710 --> 00:34:58.130
tell them? Is he not going to tell them? That
590
00:34:58.150 --> 00:34:59.820
gives him a massive sense of control.
591
00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:04.079
Although Wright didn't confess to the killings, on the 21st
592
00:35:04.099 --> 00:35:08.840
of December 2006, the police charged him with all five
593
00:35:08.940 --> 00:35:12.699
murders based on the forensic evidence they'd so far found.
594
00:35:13.219 --> 00:35:18.150
The other suspect was released from custody without charge. Prosecutors
595
00:35:18.210 --> 00:35:21.670
now began the arduous task of building a solid case
596
00:35:21.730 --> 00:35:26.090
against Wright for the upcoming trial. Michael Krimp was part
597
00:35:26.130 --> 00:35:26.969
of the legal team.
598
00:35:28.190 --> 00:35:31.889
Of the five bodies that were recovered, two of them
599
00:35:31.989 --> 00:35:35.210
had been immersed for some time in water, and if
600
00:35:35.250 --> 00:35:37.739
there had been any DNA on their bodies, it had
601
00:35:37.800 --> 00:35:41.179
long since gone. And so in terms of DNA evidence,
602
00:35:41.199 --> 00:35:43.360
there was nothing to link Steve Wright with them.
603
00:35:44.409 --> 00:35:48.630
Detectives impounded Wright's car. In it, they found fibres from
604
00:35:48.670 --> 00:35:53.010
a fake fur jacket owned by Annette Nicholls and, more significantly,
605
00:35:53.329 --> 00:35:55.570
traces of Paula Clennell's blood.
606
00:35:56.530 --> 00:36:00.739
Wright really didn't do very much to conceal his movements.
607
00:36:01.599 --> 00:36:04.380
He drove his own car. He dumped the bodies from
608
00:36:04.420 --> 00:36:08.860
his own car. He wasn't very forensically aware, as so
609
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:13.219
many determined killers are these days... He didn't know about
610
00:36:13.340 --> 00:36:16.719
DNA and fibre analysis and trace and all the other
611
00:36:17.190 --> 00:36:20.050
things we've all become so familiar with as a result
612
00:36:20.110 --> 00:36:24.409
of television series and the rest. Wright pretty much did
613
00:36:24.449 --> 00:36:26.480
as he pleased and thought he could get away with it.
614
00:36:27.010 --> 00:36:28.349
And he thought he could get away with it because
615
00:36:28.369 --> 00:36:30.429
he thought that no-one was going to miss a prostitute.
616
00:36:31.710 --> 00:36:36.239
Forensic experts also examined Wright's home. They found the blood
617
00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:40.079
of Paula Clunell and Annette Nicholls on a high-vis jacket.
618
00:36:40.760 --> 00:36:44.119
more conclusive proof that his encounter with the women had
619
00:36:44.199 --> 00:36:47.699
taken a sinister turn. But there was no link between
620
00:36:47.780 --> 00:36:50.969
Wright and the deaths of Tanya Nicol and Gemma Adams,
621
00:36:51.329 --> 00:36:54.429
the two women whose bodies had been found immersed in
622
00:36:54.489 --> 00:37:01.349
running water. Investigators re-watched the CCTV from the night Tanya
623
00:37:01.389 --> 00:37:04.469
Nicol went missing, and they were now certain the car
624
00:37:04.510 --> 00:37:11.349
that she got into was Wright's blue Ford Mondeo. Forensic
625
00:37:11.389 --> 00:37:18.760
teams painstakingly analysed microscopic debris found in the women's hair. Remarkably,
626
00:37:19.059 --> 00:37:23.460
they found fibres from Wright's tracksuit bottoms, sofa and carpet
627
00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:25.320
fibre from his Mondeo.
628
00:37:26.679 --> 00:37:32.260
Both fibres in their hair and fibres on gloves and
629
00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:36.440
other items that belonged to Steve Wright clearly linked him
630
00:37:36.539 --> 00:37:37.619
to those two as well.
631
00:37:38.239 --> 00:37:39.730
The game was up.
632
00:37:40.360 --> 00:37:44.039
This was a case that involved a lot of experts
633
00:37:44.079 --> 00:37:47.179
and a lot of expertise. And what it came down
634
00:37:47.260 --> 00:37:52.300
to was that they were able to place fibres from
635
00:37:52.320 --> 00:37:57.070
the bodies at Wright's property. They were able to place
636
00:37:57.250 --> 00:38:01.190
blood on articles of clothing and in his car. We
637
00:38:01.230 --> 00:38:05.829
call it Locard's exchange principle. You go and interact with somebody,
638
00:38:05.869 --> 00:38:08.670
you leave something of yourself there and you take something
639
00:38:08.730 --> 00:38:12.159
away from it. And as clever as you may try
640
00:38:12.199 --> 00:38:15.179
and be, you're always going to leave evidence of that interaction.
641
00:38:16.380 --> 00:38:20.179
Steve Wright was now linked to all five women. His
642
00:38:20.280 --> 00:38:24.550
trial began at Ipswich Crown Court on 16th January 2008.
643
00:38:24.550 --> 00:38:27.849
Wright pleaded not guilty.
644
00:38:28.510 --> 00:38:31.550
To me, he looked pretty cool about it all. He
645
00:38:31.590 --> 00:38:35.269
didn't seem particularly emotive about the evidence as it was
646
00:38:35.469 --> 00:38:39.889
being put to him. Well, he had to explain the
647
00:38:40.090 --> 00:38:43.960
scientific evidence in this case, which linked him very closely
648
00:38:44.059 --> 00:38:47.780
with all five of the victims, and so his explanation
649
00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:51.019
was that he'd been in close association with all five
650
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:54.659
of them, and obviously not long before they'd disappeared off
651
00:38:54.719 --> 00:38:55.139
the street.
652
00:38:55.860 --> 00:38:58.900
Wright argued he'd picked up the women for sex, and
653
00:38:58.980 --> 00:39:01.739
that was why there was evidence of them in his car.
654
00:39:02.429 --> 00:39:05.550
The defence were arguing that it might have been a coincidence,
655
00:39:06.130 --> 00:39:06.670
but no more.
656
00:39:07.179 --> 00:39:11.159
But his case began to fall apart under intense questioning.
657
00:39:11.460 --> 00:39:15.530
It was an odd picture that he portrayed because there
658
00:39:15.550 --> 00:39:19.449
was just too much coincidence in this case. The evidence
659
00:39:19.510 --> 00:39:24.329
provided more than just coincidences, it provided the evidence that
660
00:39:24.409 --> 00:39:28.710
damned him. We put to him various bits of evidence
661
00:39:28.769 --> 00:39:31.780
and said, well, was that just a coincidence? And to
662
00:39:32.030 --> 00:39:35.260
each question like that, all that Steve Wright said was
663
00:39:35.320 --> 00:39:38.179
something like, well, so it would seem or it appears so,
664
00:39:38.460 --> 00:39:40.800
and he just couldn't deal with the questions that he
665
00:39:40.840 --> 00:39:44.920
was being asked about how all these apparent coincidences existed.
666
00:39:45.780 --> 00:39:51.079
On February the 21st, 2008, after only six hours of deliberation,
667
00:39:51.480 --> 00:39:55.039
the jury found Wright guilty of all five murders and
668
00:39:55.079 --> 00:39:58.090
he was sentenced to a whole life term. He was
669
00:39:58.250 --> 00:40:02.869
immediately sent to Belmarsh Prison. He will never be released.
670
00:40:04.230 --> 00:40:06.150
I think the thing that's striking about this case is
671
00:40:06.170 --> 00:40:09.250
the speed with which Wright moved from being a relatively
672
00:40:09.329 --> 00:40:13.179
unknown minor offender involved in a minor theft... to killing
673
00:40:13.340 --> 00:40:16.199
five women in a very short period of time.
674
00:40:16.219 --> 00:40:17.940
And I am.
675
00:40:18.079 --> 00:40:20.360
Strongly of the belief that had he not been arrested,
676
00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:21.980
he would have continued to kill.
677
00:40:22.420 --> 00:40:24.980
This was a man who was desperate to be known,
678
00:40:25.460 --> 00:40:29.239
desperate to be someone. And by killing those five women,
679
00:40:29.840 --> 00:40:35.500
the notoriety that he achieved effectively made him into someone.
680
00:40:35.960 --> 00:40:39.599
We talked about the Suffolk Strangler, this man who nobody
681
00:40:39.639 --> 00:40:44.409
really knew. Suddenly, everyone knew him. He was world famous
682
00:40:44.869 --> 00:40:46.050
for being the Suffolk Strangler.
683
00:40:46.809 --> 00:40:49.329
I find it very difficult to call Wright a truly
684
00:40:49.449 --> 00:40:55.130
evil man. Deeply wicked. Deeply, with no sense of remorse.
685
00:40:57.570 --> 00:41:01.610
To this day, he has maintained his innocence. He says
686
00:41:01.989 --> 00:41:05.739
he did not kill those five women. He goes even
687
00:41:05.820 --> 00:41:10.840
further to write to his father who, in his father's eyes,
688
00:41:11.579 --> 00:41:15.650
he did what he did. And it hurts Steve Wright, actually,
689
00:41:15.690 --> 00:41:19.190
that his father doesn't believe him when Steve Wright says,
690
00:41:19.210 --> 00:41:22.570
I didn't do it. His father looked in his eyes,
691
00:41:22.829 --> 00:41:27.050
turned and walked out of prison when he said, look
692
00:41:27.070 --> 00:41:29.440
into my eyes, do you think I did it?
693
00:41:31.429 --> 00:41:33.429
It wouldn't make me feel any different whether I forgive
694
00:41:33.449 --> 00:41:35.440
him or not. I mean, the deed is done, and.
695
00:41:37.070 --> 00:41:40.449
I'm, in a way, responsible for him being out there.
696
00:41:41.449 --> 00:41:43.559
You know, I brought him into the world.
697
00:41:44.619 --> 00:41:47.139
Life will never be the same for the friends and
698
00:41:47.239 --> 00:41:49.840
families of those who were killed.
699
00:41:51.179 --> 00:41:55.510
You know, I got to a resting place and say
700
00:41:55.530 --> 00:41:58.809
and then have a little conversation, like you would, you know,
701
00:41:59.730 --> 00:42:01.909
and say, I've come up to see you, dear, you know,
702
00:42:02.949 --> 00:42:05.489
and have a little bit of emotion going there, you know.
703
00:42:06.349 --> 00:42:08.730
But there you are, it's love, isn't it? It's always
704
00:42:08.769 --> 00:42:10.030
in our memory, of course she is.
705
00:42:12.389 --> 00:42:15.230
Even now, 10 years later, I can still... I'm sitting
706
00:42:15.250 --> 00:42:16.630
here and I'm trying to be clean and I'm trying
707
00:42:16.650 --> 00:42:18.190
not to let my emotions get the better of me,
708
00:42:18.230 --> 00:42:21.860
but there's so many things that I see and I think, oh, yeah,
709
00:42:21.880 --> 00:42:24.400
Annette would love that. I still, I find it hard
710
00:42:24.440 --> 00:42:26.280
now and I find it hard, like, 20 years' time,
711
00:42:26.300 --> 00:42:29.480
you know, that she's not here anymore. It tore a
712
00:42:29.500 --> 00:42:31.280
piece of me out that I won't get back.
713
00:42:33.219 --> 00:42:35.880
Something positive has happened in Ipswich out of such a
714
00:42:36.039 --> 00:42:39.659
tragic turn of events. And that is for me, is
715
00:42:39.679 --> 00:42:42.440
that there's no longer any street prostitution occurring in Ipswich.
716
00:42:44.380 --> 00:42:46.079
If I wanted a legacy for the five women, that
717
00:42:46.099 --> 00:42:48.119
would be it. That no other women have put themselves
718
00:42:48.159 --> 00:42:51.820
in such perilous and stark and dangerous situations.
719
00:42:53.400 --> 00:42:58.260
I think Ipswich will never forget those terrible times, those
720
00:42:58.320 --> 00:43:02.500
few weeks. in December 2006, where the world's eyes were
721
00:43:02.539 --> 00:43:05.650
on them for all the wrong reasons. And they will
722
00:43:05.690 --> 00:43:11.230
take the vital lessons learned during that period forward. They
723
00:43:11.269 --> 00:43:13.860
won't forget the women, they won't forget the girls who
724
00:43:13.880 --> 00:43:17.920
were killed, but they will move forward and try to
725
00:43:18.920 --> 00:43:23.179
not allow that period to effectively dictate their future.
726
00:43:24.219 --> 00:43:27.360
We may never know why Wright carried out these frenzied
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attacks or if there are other victims that have perished
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at his hands. He remains one of the UK's most
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prolific serial killers. For six weeks, the whole world watched
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in shock as the body count in Ipswich continued to grow.
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But eventually, the forensic evidence brought justice for the families
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of all five victims. and put pay to the killing
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spree of Steve Wright, the Suffolk Strangler.