Steve Wright, the convicted Suffolk serial killer, will face trial next month for the murder of 17-year-old Victoria Hall, seven years before he killed five women in 2006, it has emerged.
Victoria Hall was last seen alive in the early hours of 19 September 1999, after leaving a nightclub in Felixstowe, Suffolk, with friends. Five days later, her body was discovered in a ditch in Creeting St Peter, near Stowmarket, around 25 miles from where she had last been seen.
Wright, 67, was convicted in 2008 at Ipswich Crown Court for the murders of Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell, Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, and Annette Nicholls, all killed over a ten-day period. He is already serving a whole-life sentence.
He has pleaded not guilty to the kidnap and murder of Victoria Hall, as well as the attempted kidnap of a 22-year-old woman in the same area on the same weekend.
Victoria had been at the Bandbox nightclub with a friend and was last seen walking home after stopping at a takeaway. Her parents, Lorinda and Graham Hall, reported her missing when she failed to return.
Ahead of the trial at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Bennathan has ruled that the jury can be informed of Wright’s prior convictions. Court reporting restrictions had previously prevented the media from disclosing his involvement in the case.
Wright appeared via video link from HMP Long Lartin in Worcestershire on Wednesday and has been remanded in custody. His trial is scheduled to begin on 2 February.
