Britain:The former publican accused of murdering five young women claimed yesterday to be the unfortunate victim of numerous coincidences that linked him to each of them shortly before they went missing.
Cross-examined by the prosecution, Steve Wright (49) used the words "it would seem so", "it would appear so" or "if you say so" numerous times to deny that his contact with them had anything to do with their deaths. He insisted it was down to chance or coincidence, and told the court that he seemed to have been "singularly unfortunate".
Peter Wright, QC, asked him to consider a "number of coincidences." He said: "You selected five young women from the streets of Ipswich amongst others and each of them died. Is that a coincidence? Wright replied: "I would say so yes."
"You selected five women from the streets of Ipswich and on your own account they all died very shortly after they left your company. Is that a coincidence?" "It would seem so, yes," said the defendant.
"You selected five women from the streets of Ipswich in the order in which they died. Is that coincidence?" Once again, the defendant replied: "It would seem so, yes." The prosecutor said: "Because you selected firstly Tania Nicol, then Gemma Adams, then Anneli Alderton, then Annette Nicholls, then Paula Clennel among others." He went on: "It would appear in so far as you pick up prostitutes in the street of Ipswich you have been singularly unfortunate." Wright replied: "It would seem so, yes." The QC went on to talk about further evidence which linked the accused to the victims: his DNA, fibres from Wright's home, and blood from Nicholls, (29) and Clennell (24), found on his reflective jacket.
The defendant told the court that Clennell had bitten her tongue while she was in his house, and that was a possible reason for blood being on his jacket. The court heard of a link between the work patterns of the defendant's partner, Pamela Wright, and the disappearances of all five women. Between October 30th when Nicol (19) went missing and November 14th, when Adams (25) vanished, Pamela Wright had not been working, jurors heard.
The prosecutor said that during that time, "it appears that the prostitutes of Ipswich were not subjected to any campaign by a random psychopath".
Earlier, the defendant told the court he only went looking for street prostitutes when his partner was at work on the night shift.
Wright, who said he had used prostitutes for 25 years, was asked the reason for the "dramatic increase" in the number of times - more than once a week - he used prostitutes in October last year. He replied that the girls on the street were cheaper and "you get two for the price of one".
- (Guardian service)