Suffolk Strangler

[Padgates staff]

Steve Wright
The Ipswich serial murders took place between 30 October and 10 December 2006 when the bodies of five murdered women were discovered at different locations near Ipswich, Suffolk, Steven Gerald James Wright (born 24 April 1958) is an English serial killer, also known as the Suffolk Strangler. He is currently serving life imprisonment for the murder of five women who worked as prostitutes in Ipswich, Suffolk. The killings took place during late 2006 and Wright was found guilty in February 2008.

Victims

Tania Nicol

Tania Nicol, aged 19, from Ipswich, the first of the victims to be reported missing, disappeared on 30 October and was reported missing by her mother 48 hours later. Her body was discovered on 8 December near Copdock Mill in a river by police divers; there was no evidence of sexual assault and a post mortem could not establish a definite cause of death. Nicol attended Chantry High School but had left home at 16 to live in a hostel, where she began to use heroin. Nicol, the youngest of the five victims, worked as a prostitute to fund her addiction to heroin and cocaine. She had originally worked in massage parlours, using the alias of Chantelle in one, but was asked to leave on suspicion that she was using drugs. Her mother was unaware she was a prostitute, and thought she had been working in a bar or a hairdressers.
 
Gemma Adams

Gemma Rose Adams aged 25, born in Kesgrave, last seen outside a BMW dealership on West End Road in Ipswich, where she had been living, disappeared on 15 November at about 01.15.  She was reported missing the same day by her partner, Jon Simpson, with whom she had been for ten years. Her body was found on 2 December, in a river at Hintlesham; she was the first of the victims to be found. Adams was found naked, in a brook, but had not been sexually assaulted. Adams had been a popular child; she came from a middle-class family and had a love of animals. As a teenager she started taking hard drugs, becoming addicted to heroin. She had been working as a prostitute to cover the cost of her drug addiction, which had already led to her being dismissed from her job with an insurance firm. Her partner, Simpson, was at the time also a heroin user, and was aware she was working as a prostitute, although her family were not.

[Padgates staff]

Anneli Alderton

Anneli Sarah Alderton, aged 24, a mother of one who was also in the early stages of pregnancy, had been living in Colchester, Essex. Alderton disappeared on 3 December and was last seen on the 17.53 train from Harwich to Manningtree. Alderton got off the train at Manningtree at 18.15 before going on to Ipswich on another train, arriving at 18.43. Alderton's body was found on 10 December near Nacton, in woodland in front of Amberfield School. Alderton had been asphyxiated and was found naked, and was posed in the cruciform position. Her pregnancy was also revealed by the autopsy and her family were first informed of it by police officers. Anneli moved to Cyprus with her mother, Maire Alderton, in 1992, after her parents separated, and they returned to Ipswich in 1997. Alderton attended Copleston High School and gained good grades in her exams. Alderton had been addicted to drugs since age 16, shortly after her father's death from lung cancer in 1998.

Annette Nicholls

Annette Nicholls, aged 29, a mother of one from Ipswich, was initially thought to have gone missing on 4 December, but at the trial it was revealed she was last seen in Ipswich town centre on 8 December. Her family reported her missing after they grew concerned at the news of the other murders. Nicholls' body was found on 12 December near Levington, naked but not sexually assaulted, and also posed in the cruciform position; a definite cause of death could not be established, but her breathing had been hampered. Nicholls, the oldest victim, had been a drug addict since the early 2000s, shortly after completing a beautician's course at Suffolk College. Soon afterwards, she had started working as a prostitute to fund her addiction. After moving to a housing association home from her council house, Nicholls asked her mother, Rosemary, to look after her son, Farron. She was thought to be staying with a man in Ipswich at the time of her death.
 
Paula Clennell

Paula Lucille Clennell aged 24, born in Northumberland and living in Ipswich, disappeared on 10 December in Ipswich at approximately 00.20.[24] Clennell's body was found on 12 December near Levington on the same day as Nicholls'.[5] Clennell was found naked but not sexually assaulted and a post mortem reported that she had been killed by a compression of her throat. Prior to her death, Clennell commented on the then recent murders in an interview with Anglia News, stating that despite them making her "a bit wary about getting into cars" she continued to work because "I need the money." Clennell moved to East Anglia ten years before her death, following the break-up of her parents' marriage. Clennell had three children with Elton Norris; all were taken into care and adopted due to her drug addiction, Clennell herself had spent some of her childhood in a referral unit, and it was shortly after being placed there that she started taking drugs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipswich_serial_murders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wright_(serial_killer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HIiO6j3_b8