BRITAIN:Stephen Wright (48) has been remanded in custody charged with the murders of five women who worked as prostitutes and whose bodies were discovered in the Suffolk countryside over a 10-day period.
Just three days after his pre-dawn arrest at his home on the edge of the town's red-light district, Wright made a five-minute appearance at Ipswich Magistrates' Court, where he was remanded to appear again on January 2nd. He is accused of murdering Gemma Adams (25), Anneli Alderton (24), Tania Nicol (19), Paula Clennell (24), and Annette Nicholls (29).
A second man arrested on Monday, Tom Stephens (37), from Trimley St Martin, near Felixstowe, was released on Thursday night on police bail pending further inquiries.
What quickly became one of Britain's largest manhunts began in October with the disappearance of Ms Nicol who, like all the other victims, was a drug addict who worked the streets to feed her habit. Two weeks later police appealed for information about another missing woman, Ms Adams, whose naked body was discovered in a stream at Hintlesham on December 2nd. After the discovery of Ms Nicol's body six days later at nearby Copdock Mill, Ipswich police confirmed similarities in both killings and formally linked them in a murder inquiry that mushroomed, with the rapid discovery of three more bodies, into the biggest in the history of the Suffolk Constabular.
Despite inevitable comparisons with the case of the Yorkshire Ripper, the man heading the Ipswich inquiry, Det Chief Supt Stewart Gull, has consistently refused to commit to the view that the killings were necessarily the work of just one person. Police have confirmed that Ms Alderton was strangled and that Ms Clennell died as a result of "compression" to the neck, but have not yet given the cause of death in the cases of the other three women.
Mr Gull also admitted that the discovery of all five bodies within a 10-day period had overwhelmed his force, emotionally as well as in terms of capacity.
However, massive reinforcements from 31 other police forces put some 500 officers and detectives on the unprecedented investigation.
Steven Wright, a former fork-lift-truck driver who also once worked on the QEII ocean cruise liner as a steward, was driven in a police convoy for his appearance yesterday from the undisclosed police station where he had been held following his arrest on Tuesday.
Dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and striped tie, he spoke only three times to say "yes" when asked to confirm his name, address and date of birth. Before the hearing, his solicitor, Paul Osler, said: "Of course, anybody accused of these sort of offences is going to experience trauma, but he is bearing up well."