Suffolk strangler Steve Wright admits murder for the first time as he pleads guilty to killing teenage girl in 1999 – years before he terrorised sex workers on the streets of Ipswich

Suffolk strangler Steve Wright made a dramatic admission of murder for the first time today, admitting he killed a 17-year-old girl 25 years ago.

The 67-year-old serial killer unexpectedly pleaded guilty to the murder of Victoria Hall on the first day of his highly anticipated trial at the Old Bailey in 1999.

Wright abducted the A-level student from the street in Felixstowe as she walked home from a nightclub on September 19, 1999, seven years before he stalked and murdered five sex workers in Ipswich’s red-light district in 2006.

Before a quiet courtroom, Wright also pleaded guilty to attempting to kidnap 22-year-old Emily Doherty in the same area just 24 hours earlier.

It was the first time one of Britain’s most notorious murderers had accepted responsibility for any of his crimes and Wright showed no emotion as he admitted murder.

He refused to take the judge’s seat when the court hearing began, but staggered to his feet to make his defense during the brief nine-minute hearing.

In the silent courtroom, a gasp could be heard from the weeping audience as Wright said he was guilty of Victoria’s murder. He is expected to be sentenced on Friday.

He is currently serving a life sentence at Long Lartin Prison in Worcestershire for five murders.

Ms Hall disappeared on her way home from a nightclub in September 1999.

In a six-week spree, the former QE2 man fatally attacked Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29, in Ipswich’s red light district before being caught by police just before Christmas 2006.

Wright denied any responsibility, despite overwhelming forensic evidence linking him to the bodies of sex workers found in nearly identical locations and dumped in a stream and woodland.

But today Wright admitted for the first time that he killed Ms Hall and dumped her body in the same creek as his two later victims.

The shock confession, made on the first day of the month-long trial, will inevitably raise questions about how many more victims Wright has claimed in the intervening years.

Since he was sentenced to life imprisonment for five murders in 2008, questions have arisen about other unsolved murders in which Wright has been linked to high-profile cases, including the disappearance of Suzy Lamplugh, with whom he previously worked on QE2.

Wright was among a long list of potential suspects in Victoria’s murder after his car was found to have a partial number plate match to the vehicle used in the attempt to kidnap Miss Doherty the previous day.

But he was never arrested or interrogated because incompetent cops spent £2 million trying to prosecute the wrong man.

Wright kidnapped the A-level student from the street in Felixstowe seven years before stalking and murdering five sex workers in Ipswich’s red-light district in 2006.

Wright was pictured in a court sketch Monday. For the first time, one of Britain’s most notorious murderers has accepted responsibility for any crime he has committed

Gemma Adams, pictured then 25, was one of the victims of Wright’s murder spree in Ipswich’s red-light district in 2006.

Anneli Alderton, pictured left, and Tania Nicol, right, were also sex workers killed in the attacks

During a six-week spree in 2006, former QE2 steward Wright went on the offensive and also killed Annette Nicholls, pictured left, and Paula Clennell, right.

Local businessman Adrian Bradshaw was at the same nightclub as Victoria before he disappeared on his way home in the early hours of 19 September 1999.

His family expected him to take a taxi home, but he had run out of money.

Instead Victoria and her best friend Gemma Algar stopped to buy crisps before walking the two miles from Bandbox nightclub to their home in Trimley St Mary.

The couple went their separate ways at around 2.30am, just 300 meters from Victoria’s home.

As Gemma walked away she heard a scream but thought someone was making a fuss.

Other residents also heard ‘terrifying screams’, a ‘throaty exhaust’ and a car screeching away.

At 8.20am, Victoria’s family raised the alarm when they realized she wasn’t in her bedroom.

Five days later his body was found by a dog walker in a ditch 40 kilometers away in Creeting St Peter.

Like Wright’s two later victims, the teenager was found naked in a creek.

In another similarity, the autopsy revealed that she was strangled but not sexually assaulted.

A prison van arrived at the Old Bailey on Monday ahead of Wright’s trial

Victoria’s body was found 40 kilometers away five days later

Wright was never arrested or questioned following Victoria’s murder because incompetent police spent £2 million prosecuting the wrong man (image: Miss Hall, a photo distributed in 1999)

Victoria’s family expected her to take a taxi home at night, but they ran out of money

Mrs Hall is seen in a photograph distributed to the family following her murder in 1999

But detectives turned their investigation to Mr Bradshaw after locals reported his Porsche had a loud exhaust.

The 27-year-old, who owns a local newspaper, was at the same nightclub with his friends before taking a taxi and being dropped off at 2.30am near the intersection where Victoria was last seen.

He was arrested in May 2000 and charged after forensic scientists found ten grains of mud on the accelerator pedal of his 1982 Porsche 944, which Britain’s leading soil expert Professor Kenneth Pye claimed bore a ‘remarkable’ resemblance to soil in the ditch.

But it took just 90 minutes for jurors to acquit him after a geologist revealed the sample could have come from anywhere in East Anglia.

In 2019, unsolved case officers took a fresh look at the investigation by releasing a CCTV clip of a man standing near where Victoria’s body was dumped.

Detectives had set up a hidden camera at the scene, hoping the killer might return.

Grainy CCTV showed a man in a white van returning to the scene three weeks after his death.

The unidentified man got out of a minibus at 12.34am on 7 October 1999 before wandering around and driving off.

In 2019, cold case officers take a fresh look at the investigation

Victoria’s parents, Graham and Lorinda Hall, pictured, had to wait decades for justice to be served. Tragically, Lorinda died in December, weeks before Wright’s trial was due to begin

Suffolk Police were unable to identify the man at the time, but following an appeal from Crimewatch, a member of the public reported that Wright owned a similar vehicle and closely resembled the man’s profile, age and height.

In July 2021, Wright was arrested in prison and interviewed by officers.

He was charged in 2024 after new forensic techniques revealed a link to the serial killer for the first time.

Wright was not in the police database at the time of Victoria’s murder, and his DNA was only added two years later when he was convicted of stealing from a pub.

He pleaded guilty today to the abduction and murder of Victoria Hall by ‘taking or taking Victoria Hall against her will by force or fraud’.

He also admitted attempting to kidnap Ms Doherty on 18 September 1999 by ‘unlawfully and attempting to take or remove her against her will by force or fraud’.