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He's described as a quite, gentle man by his family and by some of the prostitutes he did business with. He maintained his innocence throughout his trial at Ipswich Crown Court, so we may never know the motives for his crimes.

Wright's main line of defence was that he did have sex with four of the five dead women, which explained the forensic links but didn't mean that he killed any of the dead women. However, a fibre from the carpet of his car, which was found in the hair of one of the dead women, seems to have convinced the jury that he was the killer.

Personal history

Steve Wright was born at Erpingham, Norfolk in 1958. His father Conrad was a military policeman and they lived nearby at RAF West Beckham. He was one of four children. His mother Patricia walked out when Steve Wright was eight. He hadn't seen her for 25 years. His father remarried.

Wright's work history was wide and varied. He was a steward on QE2 liner and while on shore leave in Thailand he was filmed by Whicker's World talking to prostitutes inΜύ a bar in Pattaya's red light district.

On a later trip back to Thailand it's believed he went through a marriage service to a local girl who's reported to have fleeced him. He returned home penniless and was taken in by his father and step-mother Val.

Val Wright has found the whole thing hard to take in. She said: "Steve is a very gentle person. He never forgets birthdays, never forgets anniversaries.

"He would always come back if he had a problem. He lived with us with his wife and child.

"He's just not got a malicious bone in his body. I've known him for forty years and I've never seen him lose his temper."

Working life

In 2001, Steve Wright worked as a barman at the Brook Hotel in Felixstowe before being sacked for stealing hundreds of pounds, for which he was ordered to carry out 100 hours community service.

It was a DNA sample taken at the time of that conviction which led to police matching samples taken from the dead women with Wright.

He also managed the Ferry Boat pub in Norwich's red light district and worked as a fork-lift truck driver at Felixstowe docks. He was twice-married and twice-divorced.

Kerb crawler

He always admitted to using prostitutes for sex. Lou was one of the women on the streets of Ipswich who dealt with him as a client: "Maybe I'm one of the luckiest working girls out there."

Awaiting trial Steve Wright wrote to his father from prison:"You said in the paper that when you looked into my eyes you would know whether I was guilty or not. That really hurt me. It was like a knife in the heart for you to even contemplate that I could be capable of such a terrible crime."
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Handwriting expert Ruth Myers has worked with the police and the courts. She says Steve Wright's letter shows someone who's shy, secretive, often in self-denial, can skirt issues and misrepresent situations and avoid the truth.

She said: "These writers - they never show emotion, they very rarely enthuse, they never get excited. They're exercising control. Steve has written quite heavily. Because he doesn't communicate, these feelings build-up like a water tank until they suddenly explode.

"They're seething inside but you would never know. They can't control it and have violent outbursts."

Also in his prison letter he wrote: "If I start to fall apart at the seams I don't think I could cope in here. I need to be strong to cope with this
nightmare."

He said nothing about the women he murdered.