Steve Wright jailed for 40 years over Victoria Hall murder
Steve Wright jailed for 40 years over Victoria Hall murder
Serial killer Steve Wright has been sentenced to 40 years for kidnapping and murdering 17-year-old Victoria Hall, adding to his life term for Ipswich murders.
Steve Wright, now 67, has been handed a 40-year prison term for the kidnapping and murder of 17-year-old Victoria Hall in September 1999 near Felixstowe, Suffolk. He is already serving a whole-life sentence for the five Ipswich women he killed in 2006, a case that shocked the country. The Old Bailey heard that Victoria Hall and a friend had spent the evening at the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe; the two parted near their homes and Victoria was abducted in Trimley St Mary.
Prosecutors say Victoria Hall's death represented another vile chapter in a career that saw Wright stalking and preying on young women. An emotional account described Hall as an innocent schoolgirl preparing for her A-levels. She was found murdered five days after her disappearance in a ditch, a detail the judge described with solemn gravity. The night after Hall's abduction, Wright allegedly attempted to kidnap another woman, Emily Doherty, who escaped.
The sentence, delivered by Mr Justice Bennathan, acknowledged Wright's admission to the charges but stressed the sentence would 'almost certainly make no difference' given the existing whole-life order for his earlier killings. The judge noted that the public's need for accountability did not heal the bereaved families but he still imposed the 40-year term to reflect the gravity of the 1999 crime.
Authorities emphasized the case's long shadow on this region of Suffolk and on victims' families, who have awaited closure for more than two decades. Wright's latest sentencing marks another moment in a lengthy judicial process that has kept this case in the public eye.
