‘Serial killer Steve Wright wrote to me – one paragraph chills me to the bone’

Suffolk Strangler Steve Wright today, February 2, admitted to murdering 17-year-old Victoria Hall who disappeared more than 25 years ago. The 67-year-old serial killer also pleaded guilty to the attempted kidnap of Emily Doherty, then aged 22, in Felixstowe the day before. 

In 2008, the former steward on the QE2 was handed a rare whole life order for the brutal murders of five Ipswich prostitutes, making him one of the country’s most notorious criminals. In an astonishing letter from prison to Anthony Bond shortly after he was jailed, the twisted killer continued to protest his innocence, despite the mountain of evidence against him. Looking back at that letter today, his horrific lies and lack of empathy for the victims’ families are even more chilling. 

The brutal murders of five young sex workers from Ipswich’s red light area nearly 20 years ago sent shockwaves through the country. 

The naked bodies of Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24 and Annette Nicholls, 29 were found in isolated spots near the Suffolk town in a 10-day spell in December 2006. They had all been strangled or suffocated.

I worked as a reporter in Ipswich during that time and covered the trial of the then 49-year-old. Prosecutors said Wright “systematically selected and murdered” the women after stalking streets around his home.

DNA and fibres linked to his clothes, house and car were found on the women.

Shortly after he was jailed, Wright sent me a three-page letter from high security Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire. 

His words understandably caused fury with the victims’ families.

He wrote: “What I would say to the people of Suffolk is be on your guard because the real killer is still out there, although the injustice that has been done to me I feel no malice or contempt for the people of Suffolk and for the families of the five girls that were cruelly taken away from them.  

“I feel sorrow and heartfelt pain for their loss….but believe me when I say he is still out there contemplating his next move.”

But now the sick killer has admitted to murdering Victoria Hall, his horrendous lies are even more stark, and one paragraph from that letter particularly stands out.

It reads: “People should believe I am innocent because I have gone through my whole life trying to be as fair and considerate to other people as I possibly could. I do not have a violent bone in my body and to take a life I would have thought would be the ultimate form of aggression.”

Reacting to the letter at the time, Brian Clennell, father of Paula, said: “How can he say that he is innocent when there is so much evidence against him? 

“He can do what he wants. He has hobbies and a TV and the gym and meals every day…. If Paula could have been rescued from what she was into she maybe could have another chance but she does not have a chance.

“I say let him rot in hell.”  

Now that Wright has admitted for the first time to being a killer, the families of Gemma, Tania, Anneli, Paula and Annette will be hoping he finally has the guts to admit to their murders too.