KILLERS : steven gerald james wright - (the suffolk strangler)

hips which is a port town and no stranger at a prostitution but an escalating drug problem has seen an increase in the number of women working the streets it's a situation that worries DCs steward goal they were in the region of 100 or more sort of prostitutes working in the Ipswich area highly vulnerable and at-risk Monday the 30th of October 2006 local girl Tania Nicol fails to return home but the something her family doesn't know Tanya's been leading a double life how much 50 quid what's it with 24 30 for the last few weeks tarney has been working as a prostitute to support her drug habit it's a scenario familiar to many of the local working girls the manner of Tania's disappearance particularly concerns Decius steward Ghul she had literally disappeared off the face of the earth her phone records showed us a very flat line from the 1st of November no incoming or outgoing movement of data at all and again that was a real cause for concern just over two weeks later another girl 25 year old Gemma Adams has been reported missing like Tanya Jemma is also working the red-light district to pay for her drug addiction as part of the investigation into Tanya and Gemma's disappearance the police stopped motorists in the areas the girls usually worked you wetsuit girls gone missing no I'm tying a neck hold Gemma Adams me anything you know those names don't mean anything to me all right move on despite stopping over 500 cars and questioning 2,000 people no new information about the girls is found Tania Nicol has now been missing for just over a month Gemma Adams for 16 days hopes of finding them alive are beginning to fade on the morning of the 2nd of December water bailiff Trevor Saunders is checking Bell stirred Brook for blockages after heavy rains of caused flooding notice what I thought at the FIR at first was a dummy a mannequin so got down into the war to get it out on closer examination Trevor discovers the true nature of what he's found so I got down to the go to clear the blockage and when I got down to her that's when I realized that now he weren't a dummy it was a real body and immediately thought to myself that I've found one of them it entails Trevor Saunders discovery is relayed to Stuart girl paavana nothing girls and was called in they found a boy we're in a stream lines of Fisheries near handles him let's keep a lid on this until we're sure the facts can somebody let tenure and jimin's parents know that a body has been found I don't want them hearing about it through the news well clearly identification wasn't known at that stage but you will automatically fear for the worst and you assume that it's perhaps either tenure or or Jemma hearing where the body has been found forensic officer David Stagg realizes the magnitude of the task he's facing the expectation of recovering forensic evidence from both body and the the scene where the body was found was actually quite low because deposit in a naked body in running water you're not going to have much forensic evidence left whatsoever so when you move it up against it right from the start the body is identified as Gemma Adams news of Gemma's death soon spreads the search for evidence intensifies in freezing conditions divers and forensic teams scour the area for almost a week the search is about to be called off when a diver makes a shocking discovery December 2006 Tania Nicol and Gemma Adams have gone missing from the red light district of Ipswich the naked body of Jenna has been recovered from a stream on the outskirts of the town then during a forensic sweep of the area a diver makes another devastating discovery forensic officer David Stagg recalls hearing the news I remember receiving the phone call alerting me that the second body had been found and when asked where was taught bells dead Brooke immediately the alarm bells were ringing less than two miles downstream from where Gemma Adams has been recovered there's little doubt the second body is that of Tania Nicol not in my wildest dreams did I anticipate that they would uncover the body of Tania Nicol we were now no longer dealing with our two missing persons this was a double murder inquiry despite the similarities the police know they can't assume the deaths are linked I want an SiO assigned to each of these murders I don't want anybody jumping to conclusions we still need to keep an open mind that it could be just coincidence understood any news about the cause of death nothing concrete sir bodies are in pretty bad shape now forensics turned up anything not yet seems the bodies were washed clean but they're still looking a post-mortem is conducted but with the two bodies having been immersed in water for so long the results are inconclusive forensic scientist Ray Palmer knows retrieving any evidence will be near impossible because it actually been present in flowing water for a number of weeks any prospector recovering fibrous or other debris from the skin or even DNA from the skin and that period of time was virtually zero the murderer's choice of location indicates to criminologist David Wilson that the police are dealing with a methodical and calculating killer the fact that he had placed the bodies and water source to destroy any forensic evidence suggested to me this was a very criminologist were described as an organized killer by organized I mean that he's very carefully thought through how he's crucially going to avoid being detected from the police with no evidence the police need to find witnesses they interview other women working in Ipswich is red-light area one of them his fellow prostitute Paul Oakland all well now all of you know Tanya yeah well enough shame on the streets it's a nice and I'm sure to cigarette before you know pretty girl what did you know see ya so about we kick maybe two can you remember exactly what day that was or what day time I think it was about 12:30 volume maybe would have been invoked Ober Burlington Road area Burlington Road is one of only a handful of streets that make up hips which is red light district the area is constantly monitored by CCTV cameras to try and spot Tanya the night she went missing police trawl through a staggering 16,000 hours of footage their dedication pays off Tonya spotted the night she went missing getting into a dark car but the image isn't clear enough to get a match for the car's registration plate the efforts to identify the killer leave the police frustrated then the shattering news of another body the motorist had reported finding what appeared to be the naked body of a young female totally unexpected totally unbelievable mind begins to race what are we dealing with here what's happening in Suffolk the discovery of yet another body less than 48 hours after the start of the double murder enquiry horrifies David Stagg after the body of Tanya Nicole had been found nob did really envisaged that this spree of murders would actually continue and it came as a real shock to us when the third body was found not just because it was a third body but the manner of deposition was entirely different to the first two the body has been found on dry land in a secluded would less than ten miles from the center of Ipswich but it's the way the bodies been left that disturbs Stewart girl she was naked she'd been posed and the offender had clearly taken some time to lay her out the killer has arranged the body in the shape of a cross she was pristine she looked like an angel distinctive tattoos on the body established the identity of the third murdered woman as mother of 124 year old Anna Lee Alderton no one had reported her missing like the other victims Anna Lee had also been working as a prostitute to pay for drugs David Stagg knows with a body on land but this is the first real chance to recover clues to the killer's identity the body of an illegal dicin was deposited on dry land that in itself was actually from a forensic point of view a breakthrough for us because the potential for harvest in forensic evidence not just from the body but from the scene of the deposition was much greater the pathologist is able to determine the cause of death as an airway obstruction strangulation is a peculiarly intimate form of murder the killer is expressing through that method of murder the ultimate form of power and control over the life of another individual the examination also reveals another tragic aspect to the murder Anna Lee was three months pregnant the revelation changes everything for crime reporter Josh Warwick I think when it emerged that Anna Lee was pregnant it brought a different dimension to reporting of the case and people's attitude brought a very very human and raw fear to the story all of a sudden breakthroughs still prove elusive a witness reports seeing Annalee boarding a train exactly one week before her body was found CCTV cameras on the train caught her now she made the journey but no further information turns out with the discovery of three murder victims in less than a week all with such similar backgrounds criminologist David Wilson has little doubt about the type of murderer the police are chasing when the third body turned up I think I was the first person to say there is a serial killer on the loose in Ipswich and I think those words I chose with a great deal of care because they were as far as I was concerned accurate and they also should have suggested which I think they did the gravity of the circumstances the grisly discovery of three bodies brings the world's media to its switch what happened almost overnight as this crisis was developing was that the streets became filled only with one group of people and that group of people was journalists journalists seem to be bumping into each other desperately hoping to find a prostitute that they could interview despite the fact that a killer seems to be targeting prostitutes most of the girls continued to work the streets as usual the police put out a clear warning telling the girls to get off the streets but the warnings are ignored go to girls have been reported missing and that Nichols second pull the kennel the newly reported missing women are identified as mother of three Paula clan all whom the police had questioned earlier about the disappearances and 29 year old and Ed Nichols just six days before she'd gone missing Paula clan all had been interviewed by a local TV crew why have you decided to come out tonight cuz I need the money I need the money despite the dangers well that has made me a bit wary about getting into cars you know but you will do that tonight well probably following the two new disappearances the police organized a press conference reporter Josh Warwick is stunned by the turn of events the shock and the amazement of if everybody's certain yourselves when we were told that these are two other women have been reported missing both prostitutes both drug addicts was it was unbelievable really you know it was just incredible less than 24 hours after the press conference more news go defend another body we're in the woods close to where Emily Olsen's body was found we're already sort of still really reeling from the discovery of an allele Alderton on the Sunday get as many people out there as possible over the crime scene lockdown the reserve run away I was still surprised shocked dismayed and of course realized the severity and the magnitude of what we what we were now dealing with even though police arrived at the scene within minutes of the reported sighting of the body cameras affair to meet them well I will need you to come at some point you have to go alright a police helicopter is scrambled to assist the search it's confirmed a body has been found in woodland just six yards from the edge of the road the helicopter observation team relay images back to police headquarters I can remember looking at the screen and seeing what what clearly appeared to be the dumped and crumpled body of a of a naked female but steward gull is soon to see yet another even more harrowing image winter 2006 in just six weeks five women have disappeared from lips witches red-light district the bodies of three women have been recovered a fourth body has just been found in woodland and from the air the police continue to search the area for helicopter observer Maggie Williams it's a search that'll take a devastating turn I put the camera onto the first body and we decided as a crew that we should really search the rest of the wood and as I swung the come around Panther come around and came into view on the screen was another body and that was you know the realization the gruesome discovery that yes there were two bodies there in the same location very close to each other images from the helicopters camera a relayed to the Suffolk police headquarters it probably took a few moments for the pennies to drop but then dawned on me we now had a fourth and fifth victim that was a particularly difficult time the police soon confirmed the bodies are those of Pawlik Leno and Annette Nicholls a post-mortem shows Paulette kennel died following compression to the neck but Annette's death remains a mystery tragically all five of the missing women have been found dead Stuart Ghul reluctantly announces the police are looking for a serial killer whilst we only had a cause of death for two in all probability all had died as a result of some form of interference with the AOA so you put all of that together and I think quite rightly we drew the conclusion that we were looking for just one or more persons who were involved together in the abduction and murder of all five women six hundred officers and staff from within suffered are now assisted by a further five hundred from around the country it's the biggest police manhunt the East of England has ever seen with the announcement that a serial killer is at large the media attention dramatically increases I think you'll agree there's little doubt that the murders of the work of one person or persons working together we had a number of people have interest a small number at that stage but it's a very methodical very sort of scientific process that you need to go go through you can't declare everybody a suspect otherwise you make no progress at all one name seems to offer itself up following an interview with a newspaper which he admits to knowing the five victims 37 year-old supermarket worker Tom Stevens is taken into custody in custody and helping police with their inquiries the man who lived here is being held by police hunting the Suffolk serial killer the police had to arrest Tom Stevens on that occasion because if in effect he said I knew all of these five women they've all been back to my house I do not have an alibi for the nights that they went missing and those circumstances the police would have been bonkers not to have arrested somebody who's openly saying that without solid evidence the police know they'll soon have to let Stevens go then the forensic team take an extraordinary step forward tiny amounts of DNA are retrieved from the bodies of Anna Lee Alderton and ed Nicholls and Paula clan all the three women found on dry land my initial feeling was was one of surprise bearing in mind the very hostile environment that these young women had been found in I wasn't over optimistic that we'd recover forensic material as quickly as we did the forensic teams objective is to see if this DNA is that of the killer but there's a problem there may not be enough DNA to examine accurately to be able to identify the DNA's genetic fingerprint the team need a certain amount of DNA by using a technique known as polymerase chain reaction the strands of DNA retrieved from the bodies are copied over and over again providing the team with enough genetic material to analyze the findings stun davit Stagg I remember when I was notified that we had a DNA hit that linked firstly two of the bodies and then subsequently all three the Lund deposited bodies and initially was a feeling of disbelief it's a one-in-a-billion result the DNA retrieved from the three separate bodies all linked back to the same person but who the samples are checked against the national DNA database got forensics managed to pull some DNA off one of the bodies if they found a match for the DNA yeah they're Tom Stephens no local member than I was Stephen right Steve right wasn't on our radar at that particular time he was already in the system he'd actually been stopped on an anniversary row check in respect of the disappearance of Tanganyika all right move on it's quickly established that right works locally as a forklift driver and lives on London Road one of the streets that make up hips which is red-light district put him under 24-hour surveillance see what turns up got it the Suffolk police no rights arrest has to be handled carefully right is placed under 24-hour observation once the suspect had been identified as steve wright was an incredible amount of planning went into the arrest phase and from our perspective the real detail around it was how we're gonna deal forensic me with his house with his car with him when he comes into custody by giving the forensic team time to prepare for Wright's arrest Stewart gall knew he was taking a calculated risk having deferred the arrest of Steve Wright for 24 hours effectively put a ring of steel around him I couldn't afford for him to be at large with the forensic teams preparation complete the police arrived at 79 London Road in the early hours of the 19th of December Stevan right yes Stephen right I'm arresting you on suspicion of the murders Tania Nicol Emily Alderton Gemma Adams Paula Glenelg and Annette Nicholls the 48 year old man was arrested at his home address in Ipswich at approximately 5:00 a.m. this morning Tuesday the 19th of December he did not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you fail to mention something that you later rely on in court he has been arrested on suspicion of murdering all five women the police conduct a background check of the man they believe capable of killing five young women born in Norfolk in 1958 as one of four children Wright was to lead an unhappy childhood with his mother leaving home soon after his eighth birthday with no qualifications Wright drifted from job to job before working as a steward on the qe2 for six years in 1988 Wright set himself up as a pub landlord but with little success with two failed marriages and a mounting gambling debt Wright found work as a barman at the Brooke hotel after he was caught stealing 80 pounds from the till his DNA was entered into the national database a few weeks before Tania Nicol went missing right was to move into 79 London Road at the heart of hips which is red-light district what's intriguing about serial killers is not the fact that they are the epitome of evil but rather they're the banality of evil it's their ordinariness that sticks out and when I first got to know more about the background of Steve Wright what struck me was again that sense of the everyday nature of who serial killers are right is questioned by the Suffolk police come on Steve you telling me you never even been tempted to go with a prostitute though comment when he was arrested he said no comment during the first eight hours of interviews need to speak to us Steve need to tell us what was going through your mind at the time no comment he's not going to engage with you he's not going to engage with me and uh help resolve the puzzle the puzzle of why he committed the crimes we've got the last girl to go missing with your DNA I won before with your DNA both on their naked bodies how can that be no comment even without a confession the DNA recovered from the bodies is proof enough for Stuart gull to announce that Wright has been charged with the murder of all five women and Tom Stephens is to be released Wright's trial is set for January 2008 the pressure is now on the forensic teams to find conclusive evidence linking right to the five murdered women the police impound Wright's car as part of our forensic strategy we identified Steve Wright's car as a key exhibit that needed to be examined in fine detail not just for fiber evidence but evidence of any of the transfers but there's a potential problem neighbors report seeing Wright obsessively cleaning his car at all times of the day and night undeterred by Wright's efforts the forensic team set about the painstaking task of lifting fibers from the car in the hope they'll be able to match them with fibers found on the bodies their efforts finally pay off the first significant finding that we came up with related to the tapings that had been taken from Annette Nicholls what we found on these tapings was a fake for a fiber when we came to look at Steve Wright's vehicle we found two of these fibers inside the footwell which matched the fit for fiber from Annette's tapings exactly the fiber analysis team then makes another critical discovery what we found on tapings from the rear seat were a number of very very tiny flakes of blood completely unexpected finding but never less highly significant by recombining the individual flakes of blood into a single droplet enough DNA is recovered to allow a match the blood belongs to Paulette level and when Wright's fluorescent jacket is subjected to microscopic examination more of Paula's blood as well as that of a net nichols is found but in a totally new complexion to the forensic evidence against Steve right because whereby would earlier had evidence that could be explained away by general contact with these people innocent contact as perhaps a customer the transfer of blood was something that potentially was far more sinister with Wright's make of car now known the CCTV footage is reexamined his Mondeo is spotted leaving apes which the night Gemma Adams failed to meet her boyfriend the model also matches the car Tania Nicol was seen climbing into the police now have compelling evidence linking right to Anna Lee Alderton Paula Clement talonnet Nichols but a positive link to Tanya Nicholas and Gemma Adams who were found in running water still remains elusive without that link the entire case against Wright could be in jeopardy 48 year-old Steve Wright has been arrested on suspicion of murdering five women forensic evidence has linked right to Annalee Alderton Pawlik Lenoir and Annette Nicholls the three victims found on land but recovering clues from the first two bodies has so far proved impossibly it was vital that we actually linked stave right to the murders of Tania Nicol and Gemma Adams we knew that there would be very little chance of getting any DNA transfers to the bodies because they're being deposited in water but fibers could be trapped in their hair and that was the target area that we decided was going to give us the best potential forensic evidence to try and establish a link between right and the first two murders the forensic team set about collecting everything caught in Tanya and Gemma's hair they extract over two kilograms of debris sifting through the material the team then spend weeks microscopically examining every tiny particle against all the odds they find what they're looking for colored fibers trapped deep in Gemma's hair in particularly found blue polyester microfibers which matched Steve Wright's tracksuit bottoms we found red acrylic fiber which were present and Steve Wright's car and on his sofa in his living room but it's to be a single fiber extracted from Tanya's hair that will provide the final link in the forensic chain well a case of this fiber here we recovered this from the hair debris of Tonya nickel which is a black nylon fiber with a very distinctive cross-section and this type of fibers very commonly used in the construction of carpets but where did the black fiber come from once again Wright's Mondeo provides the answer the fiber matches those in the cars copied that was crucial to was because it put Tonya to his car but he begs the question how on earth has carbon fibers got in her hair there was only one conclusion that we could come to a nice her head had been be enforceable contact with the the foot wells of that car that could either have been during the strangulation process or as the body was actually transported to the point of deposition the forensic team now have good evidence linking right to all five victims on the 14th of January 2008 the trial of Steve Wright begins we were under intense pressure and scrutiny we felt the weight of expectation but of course until the evidence is delivered before the jury you really don't know which way the case is going to go right pleads not guilty to all five charges of murder for 15 days the prosecution lay out the forensic and CCTV evidence against right on the 7th of February Steve Wright takes the stand in his own defense he tries to offer a plausible explanation why his DNA may have been found on the murdered women I had sex with Gemma Adams in the back my car right also admits to picking up Tania Nicol but insists she was only in his car for a brief period when she got in the car she had acne on her face and it put me off quite a bit really I thought Steve Wright was particularly cruel in his description of Tania Nicol that seemed to me to be a revealing insight into the psychological process that he had gone through to objectify those young women thus making it easier for him to kill them but Wright's explanation soon start to fall apart under the barrage of questions that came towards him he literally could not maintain any control as the horrible dreadful truth seeked out to the extent that he started to say no I did not I can't answer that I couldn't say you might say that I don't know where the blood came from the trial lasts for over a month on Thursday the 21st of February after just six hours of deliberation the jury returns to deliver their verdict my heart was racing and I was shaking I tried to pour myself from water but but was unable to do so it was just extremely tense extremely nervous white of expectation was pretty immense right is found guilty on all five counts of murder when the guilty verdict came in there was a tremendous amount of relief for it for a start but also a tremendous amount of pride particular form the forensic side because we knew we played such an important part in the investigation the judge hands right a whole life sentence Steve Wright will die in prison this was about bringing a serial murder to justice and justice seeing to be done but more than anything relief for the families of it they can now bring some some closure to a very difficult period during during their lives today hips witches red-light district has all but disappeared helping erase the memory of those 10 days in December

Channel: Rick H

Views: 668,334

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Id: K7CJyqQua34

Length: 40min 43sec (2443 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 17 2013