The Old Bailey has revealed a chilling pattern in the case of Steve Wright, accused of murdering Victoria Hall. A judge has permitted the jury to learn of Wright’s prior convictions – five other women found murdered, their lives extinguished with terrifying similarity.
The echoes of December 2006 now haunt this current case. Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell, Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, and Annette Nicholls – five names representing five lives brutally cut short within a mere ten days. The details of those crimes will now be laid bare before the jury deciding Wright’s fate in the Hall murder.
Victoria Hall was just seventeen when she disappeared. The night of September 19, 1999, began with an evening out with friends at the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe, Suffolk, a night that would end in unimaginable tragedy.
In the early hours of the morning, Victoria walked home with a friend, a seemingly ordinary journey. They paused for food at a takeaway, a brief moment of normalcy before their paths diverged just 300 yards from Victoria’s home at approximately 2:30 am.
That was the last time anyone saw Victoria alive. She vanished into the darkness, leaving behind a family and friends consumed by grief and unanswered questions for over two decades.
Wright appeared in court via video link, a stark image of a man held within the walls of HMP Long Lartin, dressed in a white t-shirt and grey tracksuit. He remains in custody, awaiting the start of his trial at the Old Bailey on February 2nd.
The upcoming trial promises to be a harrowing examination of evidence, a confrontation with a dark past, and a desperate search for justice for Victoria Hall and the other women whose lives were stolen.
