Prostitute murder jurors visit home

12 April 2012

A jury has seen the home of a forklift truck driver accused of murdering five prostitutes.

Jurors in the trial of 49-year-old Steve Wright also visited a red-light district and the remote locations where the naked bodies of the women were found 13 months ago. Wright, of Ipswich, Suffolk, denies murdering Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29.

The trial began at Ipswich Crown Court before judge Mr Justice Gross, on Wednesday. It is expected to last at least six weeks.

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC has told the court that the remains of the five women, who all worked as prostitutes in Ipswich, were found near Ipswich during a 10-day period in December 2006. Detectives began an inquiry after Miss Nicol vanished in late October 2006.

A 27-strong court party - including the jury of nine men and three woman, the judge, Mr Wright and Wright's counsel Timothy Langdale - spent the day touring the Ipswich area. Wright chose not to take part in the visit.

Last week jurors were shown maps and computer graphics of locations featuring in the case, as prosecutors outlined their evidence. They have now seen the sites for themselves.

First jurors saw the home Wright shared with partner Pam Wright at 79 London Road, Ipswich, before being driven around the red light district - where some of the women are thought to have been when they vanished - in a bus owned by a company called Forget Me Not.

Jurors then saw a bridge over a stream at nearby Hintlesham - close to where the bodies of Miss Adams and Miss Nicol were found. Next they examined the spot at Hintlesham where Miss Adams' remains were discovered in a brook. The jury then moved on to nearby Copdock where Miss Nicol's remains were found in a stream running next to a group of industrial units.

After lunch jurors spent around 20 minutes studying an area of woodland at Nacton, where Miss Alderton's remains were found. Finally they inspected woodland at Levington, where Miss Nicholls and Miss Clennell were found a few hundred yards apart. Jurors examined two areas of woodland, each about five yards from a passing road.

The trial continues.

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