Convicted serial killer Steve Wright was sentenced to 40 additional years in prison on Friday for the 1999 murder of a teenage girl and the attempted kidnap of a young woman. Wright, already serving a whole-life order for the murders of five women in 2006, pleaded guilty this week to killing 17-year-old Victoria Hall and targeting 22-year-old Emily Doherty.
Who is Steve Wright & What Did He Do?
Steve Wright, 66, is a serial killer known as the “Suffolk Strangler” for murdering five sex workers in Ipswich in 2006, for which he received a whole-life prison tariff. On Friday, at London’s Old Bailey, Mr. Justice Bennathan sentenced him for two earlier, separate crimes in 1999. Wright admitted to abducting, sexually assaulting, and murdering Victoria Hall, and to the attempted kidnap of Emily Doherty in Felixstowe, Suffolk.
How Did the 1999 Attacks Unfold?
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC detailed that Wright was “on the prowl” in his burgundy Ford Granada on September 18-19, 1999.
- On September 18, he attempted to kidnap Emily Doherty. Her instincts alerted her to danger, and she escaped after frantically knocking on a stranger’s door.
- On September 19, he abducted Victoria Hall just 300 meters from her home in Trimley St Mary after she separated from a friend. Her friend later heard “two female high-pitched screams.”
Wright murdered Hall “within a very short time,” sexually violated her, and discarded her naked body in a farm ditch 25 miles away before returning to work at Felixstowe docks “as if nothing had happened.”
Why Was Steve Wright Only Caught Now?
Wright was not initially linked to Hall’s murder. In 2001, he was convicted of theft, which added his DNA to the national database. This DNA evidence later connected him to the 2006 Ipswich murders. His eventual arrest for Hall’s murder came in 2021, after Suffolk Constabulary reopened the cold case. Doherty’s 1999 description of her attacker’s car, which led police to identify 56 vehicles including Wright’s, proved critical decades later.
What Does the Sentence Mean?
The judge stated Wright took Hall’s life “for reasons few will ever understand,” describing her as a bright teenager studying for A-levels. The prosecutor said the way Hall’s body was discarded caused “untold” distress to her family; her mother died before Wright was brought to justice. For Emily Doherty, the court heard the stranger who answered her knock likely “probably saved her life.”
FAQ: The Steve Wright Case
Q: How many murders is Steve Wright now convicted of?
A: Steve Wright has now been convicted of six murders: the five Ipswich women in 2006 and Victoria Hall in 1999.
Q: Did Steve Wright ever admit to murder before?
A: No. The murder of Victoria Hall is the first homicide to which he has ever pleaded guilty.
Q: What sentence did he receive for these new crimes?
A: He received a 40-year prison sentence, which will run concurrently with his existing whole-life order, meaning he will never be released.
Q: How was he finally caught for the 1999 murder?
A: A combination of DNA from his past theft conviction, the fresh police inquiry, and Emily Doherty’s original description of his car led to his arrest in 2021.
