‘Suffolk Strangler’ Steve Wright arrested over 1999 murder of teenager Victoria Hall
Serial killer Steve Wright is understood to have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a 17-year-old girl who went missing 24 years ago.
Victoria Hall was on her way home from a nightclub when she vanished in September 1999. Her naked body was found in a ditch five days later.
Wright, 65, known as the “Suffolk Strangler”, is serving a whole life sentence for the murders of five women. They were killed over a 10-day period in December 2006 and their bodies dumped in Ipswich.
Steve Wright is serving a whole life sentence for the murders of five women
Suffolk Police reopened their investigation into Miss Hall’s killing in 2019 after receiving fresh witness information – which they have never expanded upon.
A man – who the force did not name at the time – was initially arrested in July 2021 in connection with the teenager’s murder then subsequently released from police custody under investigation.
He had not previously been arrested as part of the inquiry.
Suffolk Police has now said the same man was re-arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of murder and taken into police custody for questioning.
The force said he was again released under investigation pending further inquiries.
Sky News understands that man is Wright, who remains in prison.
Suffolk Police has said the force is not commenting on the man’s identity.
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Wright was convicted of murdering Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls.
Miss Hall, from Trimley St Mary in Suffolk, went out on the evening of 18 September 1999 with a friend to the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe.
The girls left the club at around 1am and parted ways at around 2.20am, yards from Miss Hall’s home.
That was the last time she was seen alive.
The force launched a missing person inquiry after Miss Hall’s parents woke up that morning and discovered she had not returned home and called the police.
Her body was found on 24 September 1999 by a dog walker in the village of Creeting St Peter, around 25 miles from where she was last seen.
Her clothing or possessions have never been found.
Suffolk Police continue to ask for anyone with information about Miss Hall’s death to contact them.
The crash involving a cargo ship and oil tanker off the East Yorkshire coast is bad news for the sea, fish and air in the area. What we don’t know yet is quite how bad it will be.
That depends on a few things – but the speed of the collision, clouds of filthy black smoke from the fires and the leaked fuel are certainly worrying.
Firstly, it matters what was on board those two massive vessels.
Follow live: Jet fuel spilling into sea after tanker collision
Analytics firm Vortexa estimates the 183m-long tanker was carrying about 130,000 barrels of jet fuel (kerosene), which is now leaking into the sea.
Jet fuel is not as sticky or viscous as heavier types of oil, thankfully, so it’s less likely to clog the feathers and fur of birds and seals. It can also be broken down by natural bacteria.
But it can still poison fish and kill animals and plants on the shoreline if it makes its way into the soil there.
The Marine Conservation Society has pointed out the site in the Humber estuary is close to some protected areas and is important for seabirds and harbour porpoises.
And both ships will have been powered by a dirtier, heavier kind of oil – likely marine gas oil or heavy fuel oil, though we don’t know the details yet.
Heavy fuel oil is nasty stuff.
Pic: Bartek Smialek/PA
Cheap, thick and tar-like, it can smother animals and is very dangerous if they consume it, and is extremely difficult to clean up. Let’s hope this isn’t creeping around the North Sea already.
We don’t know how much of either the jet fuel or the oil powering the ships has leaked, or how much will be burned off in the violent fires – which themselves are ploughing black smoke and filthy air pollution into the surrounding atmosphere.
And we don’t know for sure what was on the Solong cargo ship and if, or what, will go into the sea.
Cargo ship ‘had sodium cyanide on board’
It was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide among other cargo, according to a report from maritime data provider Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
The container vessel was also transporting an unknown quantity of alcohol, said the casualty report – an assessment of incidents at sea – citing a message from the local coastguard.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and potentially can choke or trap animals.
Many of us have seen that uncomfortable viral video of a turtle having a straw yanked out of its nose. Previous accidents on cargo ships have seen plastic Lego pieces wash up in Cornwall 25 years later.
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Secondly, the impact depends on the sea and weather conditions around it.
Things like the wind and currents affect how an oil spill spreads in the sea. Scientists can draw up computer models to simulate how the oil could behave.
Thirdly, it matters how quickly this is all tackled and then cleaned up, if necessary, and if it can be.
Usually the slower the response, the worse the impact.
The coastguard has said the incident “remains ongoing” and it has started assessing the “likely counter pollution response” that will be required.
Such a response might need the help of numerous public bodies: the government environment department, the transport department, the Environment Agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
So for now the best we can hope for – aside from the welfare of the people involved – is that not all the oil is spilled or burnt, that conditions are calm and that rescuers and those cleaning up can work swiftly.
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