Wright tells the court about his life

STEVE Wright has started to give evidence during his trial for the murders of five sex workers and has spoken about his life and how he came to be in Ipswich.

The forklift truck driver, of London Road, Ipswich, took to the witness box at the start of the defence case and is expected to spend three days giving evidence.

Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and pale blue tie, Wright was directed to the witness box by two security guards.

He first confirmed that he was living in London Road, Ipswich, at the time of his arrest on suspicion of murdering five Ipswich sex workers.

Defence barrister Timothy Langdale QC asked Wright about the moment he was arrested on December 19, 2006.

Jurors were previously told Wright felt “unsteady on his feet” and asked if he could sit down before he fell.

Wright confirmed that his reaction indicated that he felt he was about to faint. He said a similar incident had happened in the past “when I become under stress”.

The court heard he had given evidence as a prosecution witness several years ago and felt the same level of stress and passed out.

Wright said he is 49, was born in Norfolk and added that his parents had divorced “many years ago”.

He said his mother and father looked after him, as did his grandparents.

He said his mother now lives in the USA. The court heard he had very little contact with his mother after she left home when he was young.

Wright told the court he has brothers and sisters and a half-brother and a half-sister. He said one brother lived in Bury St Edmunds and a sister in Nacton.

The court heard how Wright's father, Conrad, who now lives in Felixstowe, served as an RAF policeman. Because of the nature of his job, Wright went to school abroad, including in Malta and Singapore.

He left school at 16 with no qualifications and took a job at a hotel in Aldeburgh.

He later joined the Merchant Navy and then became a steward on the QE2, where he met his first wife.

They were married for around seven years, during which time they had a child.

After leaving the QE2, Wright bought a bungalow in Halstead, Essex. He married again after turning to the pub trade for work.

He worked as a replacement pub manager before taking over at the Ferry Boat Inn, Norwich, in 1988.

He later worked in south-east London and Essex, again as a manager. He told the court he did not like it because of the drug scene.

“Someone who's drunk you can figure out,” he said. “Someone on drugs you can't so it becomes more dangerous.”

He then took over at a pub in Haverhill before moving in with his father in Felixstowe.

The court was told he started to gamble on horses and ran up debts.

Wright said he went to Thailand for ten weeks, but on his return, his money problems had escalated. He said he eventually declared himself bankrupt.

This took the pressure off him, he said, and he registered with the Gateway Recruitment agency, which he was with until 2006.

Mr Langdale said this led to Wright doing several different jobs, starting at Supreme Foods in Hadleigh.

Wright confirmed that while he worked for Gateway he would visit the premises in Camilla Court, Nacton, two times a year.

Mr Langdale said he wanted to talk to Wright about the location of Gateway and asked him to refer to a series of maps.

These showed the location of Gateway Recruitment and the deposition sites of the five bodies.

Mr Langdale asked Wright how he drove to Gateway. Wright said he used two different routes.

He said one was the Nacton turn off from the A14 and then towards the village.

Mr Langdale asked Wright if he would travel along the road where the body of Anneli Alderton was found.

Wright said he would have travelled along it “numerous times” when he was working in Felixstowe but not when he was working for Gateway.

He was asked about the Old Felixstowe Road, where the bodies of Annette Nicholls and Paula Clennell were found.

Wright said he would “sometimes” use that road when there was a lot of traffic as it was a back road to Felixstowe.

Wright was asked about the A1071 road going from Ipswich to Hadleigh, near to the sites where the bodies of Tania Nicol and Gemma Adams were found.

Wright said he travelled along the route when he was going to work for Supreme Foods and at another premises.

He said he was not familiar with the spot where Tania Nicol was found, or Belstead Brook - the watercourse where the bodies of Miss Nicol and Miss Adams were discovered at Copdock and Hintlesham respectively.

In summer 2006, Wright held down two jobs working in Mendlesham in the morning and then at Celotex in Hadleigh in the afternoon and evening, the jury heard.

He began working at Cerro, on the Hadleigh Road Industrial Estate, on November 30, 2006.

Wright told the court he would take partner Pamela Wright to work at the Ansaback call centre in Ipswich and the drive would take him ten to 15 minutes.

He said he would use Wherstead Road to reach the A14, which he would then use to get to Ransomes Industrial Estate where Ansaback is based.

Wright was asked to go through maps to indicate to the jury where Bell Close was located in Ipswich, where he lived with Ms Wright. He described it as just off Wherstead Road.

When Ms Wright started her night shifts at Ansaback about eight to nine months before the couple moved to London Road, Wright would drive her to work and she would get a bus home, jurors heard.

Wright was also asked about his Ford Mondeo, which he bought on November 25, 2005 - the day he got his licence back after losing it for speeding offences in May that year.

He said he was proud of the car and would wash it regularly and would vacuum clean the interior.

Wright also told jurors how golf played a big part in his life. He would play most weekends, sometimes on a Saturday and a Sunday.

He said he took up the sport 25 years ago, but became more serious about playing within the last four years.

Wright said his clubs and other golf gear would be kept in the boot of his car.

The court was told Wright played at the Seckford Golf Club near Woodbridge, where he paid a monthly membership.

He said he would drive along Wherstead Road and then on to the A14 to get there, with the journey taking up to 30 minutes.

When asked if he drank a lot, Wright, who smokes, replied: “Very rarely. I used to go months without drinking. I used to drink after golf sometimes. But only two or three.”

Before Wright took to the witness box, Mr Langdale told the jury he would not make a detailed opening statement but called for them to regard Wright as “any other witness”, even though there would be a special focus on him.

He said Wright would explain how he came to be in Ipswich, how he came to use the services of prostitutes and how he came to encounter the alleged victims in the case.

The 49-year-old denies murdering Tania Nicol, 19, Paula Clennell, 24, Anneli Alderton, 24, Gemma Adams, 25, and Annette Nicholls, 29, between October 29 and December 13, 2006.

The trial continues.