The man responsible for killing five prostitutes is 49-year-old Steve Wright, a former pub landlord, the jury dealing with the case was informed today.

Wright murdered the five prostitutes in a 10-day period shortly before Christmas 2006.
He was declared “indeed responsible” for the atrocity in front of the Ipswich crown court by Prosecutor Peter Wright QC.

The prosecutor continued with details such as the fact that the killer may have been “assisted” in his act of violence and that two of the corpses had been posed in a "cruciform shape" with their arms outstretched.

"We say at the end of the trial you will be satisfied that he [Steve Wright] was indeed responsible for the murder of each of these five women," said Wright.

"In the 10 days that elapsed from December 2 to 12 2006, their bodies began to turn up. It is the prosecution's case that each of them was murdered by this man [Wright]."

The five victims are: Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29. Steve Wright denies the crime.

The five women were working as prostitutes in Ipswich and they went missing between late October and early December 2006. The jury was informed that the cadavers were found one by one between December 2 and December 12, 2006 in isolated locations near Ipswich.

According to Mr. Wright’s account, Miss Alderton's naked body was found in forest near Nacton, Suffolk, on December 10, and Miss Nicholls' corpse was found near Nacton two days later.

Both cadavers were purposely left with their arms outstretched. Peter Wright said to the jury that he believes the two deaths were "inextricably linked".

“…Their deaths were, in fact, no coincidence. Rather the work of the defendant, either alone or with the assistance of another," Wright told the jurors.

After entering five not guilty pleas during the a hearing in May 2007, Steve Wright was remanded in custody in anticipation of his trial, which is expected to last about six weeks.