NATHAN CONSTANCE: The most notorious killers
hide in plain sight, freeto kill and kill again.
But most are not the criminalmasterminds of fiction.
In their minds, theycommit the perfect murder.
In reality, it is their foolishmistakes that get them caught.
[dramatic music playing]
In the town of Ipswich inthe rural East of England,
murders are rare.
The average number of murderswithin Suffolk was about seven
a year.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: But in the winter of 2006,
that would change.
2nd of December, the rivers around Ipswich
are bursting their banks.
As a government official checks water levels,
he makes a horrific discovery--
the body of a young womantrapped amongst flood debris.
Police comb the brook forclues as to how she died.
A mere six days later, they discover
another woman's body upstream.
The bodies are identified asthose of two local women, Gemma
Adams, 25, and Tania Nicol, 19.
For us to have two at thatstage in very close proximity,
probably linked, was very unusual.
And so we didn't know whatwas going to happen next.
JOSH WARWICK: There was afeeling of shock and fear.
And of course, the big questionthat everybody was asking
was, how many more?
NATHAN CONSTANCE: The sleepyEnglish town finds itself
in the grip of a nightmare.
No woman is safe.
This is a murder mystery played out
before the media in an usuallyhorrific and intimate manner.
Janet Humphrey is a memberof the Suffolk Constabulary.
She knew the two dead women.
Oh, it was horrific.
It was a really scary time.
I think the whole of Ipswich and Suffolk
were holding their breath.
We're a very small, littleforce in a rural area.
And this kind of thing doesn'thappen in a small county town.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: For crimewriter Mark Billingham,
it is one of the most intense murder
mysteries of recent times.
I remember being very aware of it
and following it on the news.
Not just in a sort of professional, you know,
I write about this kind of thing,
but it was just deeply shocking.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: The crimescene poses a major challenge.
Detective SuperintendentAndy Henwood is at the center
of the investigation.
We did everything we couldin respect to those bodies,
those victims, to try and find any evidence
that might be helpful in establishing
who the murderer was.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: But there is no obvious clue
to who is doing the killing.
So you start to think youare dealing with somebody
very organized, very clever.
And what that means is someonevery difficult to catch.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: On the 3rd of December,
the day after the first body is found,
26-year-old Anneli Aldertonis preparing for Christmas.
She has a small child and isexpecting her second baby.
But later that day, she vanishes.
Her body was discovered a week later.
On the 10th of Decemberwhen Anneli's body was found,
I actually was at my son's birthday party.
And I got a phone call.
And I have to say, my heart actually sunk.
One minute I'm with myfamily at a birthday party.
The next minute I know that we've got a third body.
MARK BILLINGHAM: The body wasvery carefully laid out, posed
in a sort of cruciform shape,which, again, started to lead
the police to gather thatthey were dealing with a very
particular kind of killer.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Thecruciform, or Christ-like,
pose of the bodies leadscriminal psychologist David
Holmes to suspect the killer ismimicking something they have
seen on TV or in the cinema.
I would probably go forthe idea that he'd just been
watching some very kind of high-impact film,
some kind ofHannibal-type film, where
this kind of cruciform imagerywas very important in the film.
And he thought of tying itin with the kind of killings.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: The killer'sidentity is still a mystery.
But the police soon realizehe's no stranger to the town.
Anneli's body was found downa road which I would be pretty
confident that it is not aroad that you would just happen
across unless you were local.
So putting the two together made us
think that this was someone whowas local to the Ipswich area.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: With the police reeling
from the discovery of threebodies in only eight days,
a major investigation begins.
There wasn't anybody at this early stage
that was specifically at the top of the pile.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Two dayslater, two more bodies
are found on the sameday, Annette Nicholls, 29,
and Paula Clennell, 24.
In 10 days, five dead women have been found.
Police have a serial killer on their hands.
The level of violence, the number of bodies,
would be far less shockingin the center of London,
in the back streets of Manchester.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: A local supermarket
worker who claims to know thewomen is brought into custody.
MARK BILLINGHAM: A local manwho was very open about the fact
that he knew the girls--
you know, there's something verycreepy about this character who
said, well, I have knowledgeof all these girls,
so you should be questioning me--
and quite rightly, came under a lot of suspicion
and was arrested.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Thesuspect's name is Tom Stephens.
His comments about the dead women in the media
lead to his arrest.
But little do the policeknow, they have the wrong man.
With five women murdered, the Suffolk police
are under pressure to putthe murderer out of business.
They've got a suspect in custody,
but he's not admitting to anything.
To assemble the case against him,
the police join forces withthe finest forensic scientists
in the country.
Ray Palmer leads one of the forensic teams
assigned to the case.
RAY PALMER: The atmosphere certainly
was intense at the time.
Here was somebody who waskilling very frequently
and, in fact, under the very noses
of the police investigation.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: The investigators
know that the best evidence,like telltale traces
of the killer's DNA, is usually found
at the scene of the crime.
With a conviction hingingon a positive DNA match,
forensic teams examine the cluesthat were gathered at the scene
of each gruesome crime.
But finding answers from the first two victims
will be a serious challenge.
Tania Nicol and Gemma Adamswere reported missing one
month before they were found.
Both worked as prostitutesin the center of Ipswich.
Gemma Adams had enjoyed acomfortable middle-class
childhood.
But heroin addiction led to a grim life,
selling her body on the street.
Crime reporter Josh Warwick recalls
the dark side of Ipswich.
Before the murders in Ipswich,there was a sort of acceptance
on one level, perhaps by the authorities,
that prostitution happened in Ipswich.
It had done for years.
Let's turn a blind eye to it,and let them get on with it.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: WhenAdams' body is discovered,
it is trapped alongside flooddebris in a swollen brook.
With the torrential rain, it has been rinsed
repeatedly by the floodwaters.
Gemma Adams' autopsyreveals hyperinflated lungs.
They show that she had been fighting
for breath in the last moments of her life.
So we treated it as a homicide right
from the word go, which meantthat we recovered the body
in a certain way so that we could
preserve any evidence that would still
be left upon Gemma's body.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Adams had gone missing
on the 15th of November.
The other prostitute, Tania Nicol,
had been missing for even longer.
Desperate for clues, policeconduct an intensive search
of the brook.
We employed the services of a dive team.
And that dive team wadedthe depths of that brook.
And the next body, which was Tania Nicol's body,
was found some mile and a halfdown the stream some six days
later.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: 19-year-old Tania
was found on the 8th of December,
five weeks after she was reported missing.
The fact that the bodies are found in water
is bad news for the police.
MARK BILLINGHAM: The first two bodies
were discovered in water.
Water damages the body but, also,
destroys any DNA evidence.
ANDY HENWOOD: In respect of Gemma and Tania,
who've been in water for some time,
we didn't hold out a great deal of hope
in terms of obtaining any DNA.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Back in the lab,
investigators have no luck finding
DNA on the first two bodies.
It was December.
It was really inclement weather.
It was lots of rain, lots of wind.
And the river in which two ofthe women had been deposited
was in full spate.
So really, conditions thatthey had been deposited in
made the potential for recovering
any forensic evidence virtually zero.
Whoever was doing this was depositing them
in that particular environmentto try and literally minimize
any forensic evidencethat might link him or her
to that particular crime.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: For the police,
the situation is challenging.
They have two bodies and a killer
who knows how to kill without leaving
behind a trace of evidence--
a killer who will kill again.
The police badly need firm evidence
to bring the killer to justice.
On the 10th of December, everything
changes for the case.
The third victim,24-year-old Anneli Alderton,
is discover to the southwest of the town.
Anneli's body wasfound in woods at Nacton,
just outside Ipswich.
A passerby in their car had seenwhat they thought, initially,
was a mannequin in the woodsbut, knowing what was going on
locally, went back and checkedand discovered her body, which
was reported to the police.
At that stage, of course, we then
realized we had a third victim.
The likelihood at that stage was that her body
was linked to the other two.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Unlike the first two bodies,
Alderton is found on dry land.
The police get a break.
As far as gathering forensic evidence goes,
that's a huge plus for a case.
And that was the point at which the case really
moved into top gear and thepolice really started to think,
now we're going to get something.
And we're going to get this guy.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Nowthey are able to retrieve
DNA from Alderton's body--
DNA that could lead them straight to the killer.
Discovering DNA on the thirdvictim is a major breakthrough.
Until now, the police have beenunable to zero in on a suspect.
But a DNA match to an individualwould move the investigation
into high gear.
MARK BILLINGHAM: That thirdbody is significant for a number
of reasons--
the way the body was laid out, posed,
the fact that it was going tobe a body that would hopefully
yield DNA evidence, and thefact that it was a third victim,
which meant that, strictly speaking,
they were now dealing with a serial killer.
Very shortly after thethird body had been found,
that's when they have thefirst big press conference.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Media interestsurges with the discovery
of the third body.
SPOKESPERSON: Two bodieshave been found near Ipswich
and [inaudible] can confirm that this afternoon,
at 3:05 PM today, police received a call
from a member of the public.
He saw what appeared to be thenaked body of a female about
20 feet off the road.
And that is when the media start to go crazy.
FEMALE REPORTER [ON TV]: Thepeople of Ipswich are fearful.
All three women worked as prostitutes.
All three were found naked.
MALE REPORTER [ON TV]: Thepolice admit they could be
dealing with a serial killer.
Cases like this don'thappen in places like Suffolk.
That was what I thought.
But I was very much aware ofthe pressure that was starting
to build in terms of, can the constabulary
find who this person is?
Can they prevent the murders happening?
I actually tried to ignore themedia coverage and the media
scrum, if you like, that was occurring
outside of police headquarters.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: As the true horror
of the situation hits home, a feeling of dread
descends on the town.
JANET HUMPHREY: I can still remember
going to collect my own son from a school disco
and walking back in the dark--
and even concerned, myself.
And I think the local womenwere concerned that it--
yes, it was street sex workersthat were being targeted.
But we didn't know who it was.
And could a different woman orsomebody from a different area
be targeted?
So it was the fact that allwomen may well be concerned.
And we all were.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: The Ipswich murder
investigation steps up a gear.
300 fresh officers arebrought in from across the UK
to swell the ranks and begin a dragnet.
We had police officersfrom all over the country
helping with the investigation.
We had some 600 people involved at the peak
of the investigation.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: The policeare under intense pressure.
I will need you, at some point, to go.
All right?
NATHAN CONSTANCE: But behind the scenes,
they had made a breakthrough.
Swabs from the body of thethird victim, Anneli Alderton,
give up a DNA sample.
It will take two days for theDNA to be analyzed and compared
to the DNA database.
But DNA is not the onlyline of the investigation
the police have.
The actual location of the bodies
provides data for another detection tool.
Samantha Lundrigan is an experton geographical profiling.
Geographic profiling is used to predict where
an offender might live based on where
he's committed his crimes.
Offenders have what's called a criminal range,
sort of a safe distance, because you can
actually be too close to home.
And that could be too risky.
But they'll also have a maximum distance
where they won't move beyond.
And that's usually tied upwith this idea of familiarity
because beyond that distance, they
don't know what the opportunities
are either for victimsor for disposal location.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: All the women were last seen
near the red-light district.
The first two bodies werefound to the southwest.
The third body was found tothe southeast of the town.
For Lundrigan, a criminalrange for the killer
is coming into focus.
SAMANTHA LUNDRIGAN: Because wehad these two small clusters,
one on one side of thecity, or beyond the city,
and one on the other side, either it's
the red-light districtthat's acting as this anchor,
or he's traveling in to goto that red-light district
and then moving out in this radial pattern,
or he has some sort of base himself
in that red-light district.
Either way, he knows boththe red-light districts
and these disposal locations well enough
to be comfortable or feel ableto dispose of a victim's body
there.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Policebelieve the killer is local.
Now geographical profiling narrows
the location down even further.
It suggests that the killer probably
lives in the center of Ipswichnear the red-light district.
The killer is still atlarge on the very streets
the sex workers ply their trade.
Ipswich, December 2006,the Suffolk murders spread
fear throughout the community.
JANET HUMPHREY: It was ahorrific time for all of us.
I was concerned about thewomen's welfare on the street.
And I think you'll find with Paula Clennell,
she's a fine example of that.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Despite thefact that a predatory serial
killer was roaming the streets of Ipswich,
sex workers like Paula Clennellstill walk the streets.
The 26-year-old mother ofthree is addicted to drugs.
She needs up to 500 poundsper day to fund her habit.
She is faced with a grim choice--
stay off the streets, endurewithdrawal and be safe,
or sell her body to pay for another hit.
Clennell's harsh choice wascaught quite by accident
by one of the dozens ofreporters covering the story.
I need the money, you know?
Despite the dangers?
Well, that has made me a bitwary about getting into cars,
you know?
Presumably, you will do that tonight?
Well, probably.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Fivedays after this interview,
Clennell disappears.
Alongside another missingprostitute, Annette Nicholls,
there are now two local women unaccounted for.
On the 12th of December, Nicholls naked body
is discovered by a roadsideto the southeast of Ipswich.
She too is laid out in a cruciform position.
Our force control room had had a call
from a member of the public who'd seen a body
laying close to the roadside.
And we had our force helicopterup and over the scene.
And the helicopter couldclearly see, from the downlink,
the body of a naked female.
And I'd looked away from the screen for a moment
and looked back.
And I looked back at the screen and then saw what
I thought was the same body.
But actually, I did a bit of a double
take because it was a bodylaying in a different position.
And it was very clear very quickly
that this was a second body thathad been found at that scene.
My heart absolutely fell through the floor.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: There are two bodies.
The second is Paula Clennell, the woman
who had been interviewed onthe streets a few days earlier.
She knew she was risking her life
and paid the ultimate price.
Within two days, the total number of victims
has risen to five.
By the time the fifth bodyis found, it becomes clear
that you're dealing with a killer who is
killing at a phenomenal rate.
The fifth victim turns out to be a woman
called Paula Clennell, whohas already been interviewed.
She's somebody who's been interviewed
on the local TV station.
And it's almost as if thekiller is looking at them
on television himself, pickingthem off the next night,
it seems.
There really is a growingsense of horror and panic.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Just six days later,
Tom Stephens is arrested.
We had one particularperson who was being seen
very closely--
talking to the media, was known to women
who worked in the red-lightdistrict, and who, if you like,
was putting himself front andcenter and became of interest.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Tom Stephens,a local supermarket trader,
seems to tick all the boxes.
MARK BILLINGHAM: It's odd.
He's the sort of character that,were this a film or a book,
you'd go, it's him.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: With Stevens in custody,
there was a major forensic breakthrough.
The sample taken from the third victim
has produced a DNA sequence.
The police now compare the sample
with the National DNA Database.
They have a DNA match.
And of course, the natural assumption
is that it's going to beStephens, the man in custody.
But it isn't.
It turns out to be acompletely different local man,
a man named Steve Wright.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: 48-year-old Steve Wright looks
an unlikely serial killer.
After a brief period of surveillance,
the police swoop on Wright'sflat in the red-light district
of Ipswich.
Steve Wright was arrestedearly on the 19th of December.
POLICE OFFICER: Steven Wright,we're arresting you for murder.
ANDY HENWOOD: And a team of officers
went to his house to arrest him.
And he was very surprised at that time.
And in fact, such that his legs gave way,
and he had to besupported by the officers.
Now what caused that, we don't know.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Wright is brought into custody.
So interview commences at 3:00 AM.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: But he is giving nothing away.
INTERVIEWER: This is Steven Wright.
ANDY HENWOOD: And he was interviewed
over a number of hours and overthe course of a couple of days.
in custody, he declined to answer any questions.
[inaudible] the last girlto go missing with your DNA,
and the one before with your DNA,
both on their naked bodies.
How can that be?
No comment.
Once Wright is brought in for questioning,
his reaction is one of a manwho is used to being invisible.
Essentially, his reaction iscompletely bland, completely.
He just looks at them andsays, no comment, no comment,
no comment.
There's nothing.
He is a blank page.
He's giving nothing away.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Policebelieve they have their man.
But there is a problem.
All five murdered women are prostitutes.
Wright admits to knowingthem and paying them for sex.
So the fact that his DNA is found on their bodies
does not necessarilymean that he killed them.
To convict Wright, the case needs
meticulous forensic evidence to convince
the jury that Wright is a killer, not
just a user of prostitutes.
At first glance, nothing in Wright's background
stands out as unusual.
I think, outwardly,Wright is somebody who was
not particularly noticeable.
His outward persona, in general,was that of the ordinary chap.
So he could always blend in.
It's not a deliberate thing.
It's just how he was.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: His life was characterized
by low-key jobs that neverseemed to go anywhere.
DAVID HOLMES: He wasn't particularly good at,
perhaps, pursuing anything.
He left school early.
He did not particularly get good jobs.
He took any old job.
And that changed quiteregularly throughout his life,
as did his relationships.
And he was not particularlygood within relationships.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Behind the facade of normality
lurks an unusually salacious private life.
Despite being married, Wrightis a red-light regular.
He uses prostitutes.
DAVID HOLMES: With Wrightand his use of prostitutes,
it actually did kind of coincide with him
having just got married.
And perhaps he's looking for something
where he is in control, wherehe can get sex when he wants it
in the manner that he chooses as opposed
to the rather kind of mundaneregularity of a relationship.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Wright'sunspectacular career
also includes a spell working ata hotel in Felixstowe, Suffolk,
in 2000.
Here, he was to make a mistake that would bring
the police to his doorstep.
Addicted to gambling, he stolemoney from the till of the inn.
When he is arrested, his DNA is taken and put
on the National DNA Database.
It's only because his DNA is on this database
that it is possible to match it to the DNA
found on the murder victims.
The DNA was particularlyimportant to us in that
it focused us on Steve Wright.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: For criminalpsychologist David Holmes,
Wright's collapse when is arrested
is an insight into his state of mind.
Wright's behavior when he was approached
by the police, when hewas arrested and charged,
was rather strange.
He didn't overreact as manykind of guilty parties would.
And he didn't massively protest his innocence
as many innocent people would.
Whether the shock was guilt orwhether the shock has one of,
why are you accusing me?
It is difficult for us to determine.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Mark Billingham
sees clues to Wright's motivesin his unusual reaction.
The reaction of Wright whenhe's arrested, almost as if he
is innocent, suggests thatthis life he has been leading,
this life of picking up sexworkers and murdering them,
is something that's done by somebody else.
It's something that he's sortof dissociated himself from.
It's a fantasy life.
It's a life of risk andpower, and sex and killing,
that is almost something he's observing.
So that when that comes crashing in,
and the police knock on hisdoor and arrest him for murder,
that reaction is understandable.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Steve Wright's past
has come back to haunt him.
But the DNA evidence onlypoints the finger at Wright.
Alone, it will not be enough to convict him.
The good news for the cops,in terms of the DNA evidence,
quickly turns out to be notquite as good as they thought
it was because Wright freelyadmits to using prostitutes,
to having slept with these women,
to having had these women in his car.
So of course, his defenseis, well, yes, of course,
you have my DNA evidence because I
have had sex with these women.
So that presents the policewith an enormous problem
is they have to find that keypiece of evidence that is going
to prove that he did rather more than simply
have sex with these women.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Ray Palmerbegins a meticulous analysis
of other forensic evidence.
Once Steve Wright hadbeen identified through DNA,
I was requested to look at the surface
debris tapings which had been taken
from each of the dead women.
Surface debris tapings aretaken at the crime scene.
It involves using Sellotapestrips to actually recover
surface debris that is presenton the skin or clothing
of a homicide victim.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: While Palmer and his team
look for fiber evidence on the women's bodies,
CCTV footage is analyzed in the hope
that it might connect Wrightto the women on the day
of their disappearance.
ANDY HENWOOD: This evidence was looked
at by an expert from theTransport Research Laboratory.
He was able to look at Steve Wright's car,
his own personal car, andthen look at the CCTV images
that we had.
And he could draw a conclusion looking
at the shape of the vehicle.
The tax disc was in a particularlocation on the windscreen.
There was an air freshenerhanging inside the car which
was in a particular position.
Putting all of those things together gave
confidence to the expert that this was
actually Steve Wright's car.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: The CCTV is compelling
and links Wright to the women but, again,
is no evidence of murder.
But then Palmer's forensicteam make a breakthrough.
Samples from the three bodiesof the women found on dry land
reveal a particular type of polyester material,
a dark-colored microfiber.
RAY PALMER: Such fibers are very, very commonly
used in things like sportswear.
Garments that are constructed of them
tend to have a verydistinctive texture, will
tend to feel like peach skin.
So the information we gave the police at that time
was we were looking for something that would be
labeled polyester and would likely have
a label saying microfibers.
And it would have thispeach-skin texture to it.
Unfortunately, nothing of thisnature turned up at that time.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Palmer'steam then look at the interior
of Wright's car.
RAY PALMER: In the frontdriver's seat of Steve Wright's
car, these microfiber collectorswere present in huge numbers.
But at that time, we had no ideawhat the garment was, in fact,
or where it was.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: The fiberfound on the car seats
is the same as thatfound on the dead bodies.
They need to find the source of these fibers.
Palmer and the police return tosweep Wright's house once more.
RAY PALMER: I remember turningup and walking into this house
and straight into the living room.
And my initial surprise was I saw
this pair of tracksuitbottoms sitting on the settee
and neatly folded up.
And when I touched it, it had this distinctive
peach-skin feel to it.
And the color was right.
And it was clear that thisitem that been packaged
up, ready to go to the laboratory, and somebody
had overlooked it.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Microfiberfrom Wright's tracksuit bottoms
are all over the women and his car.
It's yet more evidence that tiesWright to the murdered women,
but it's no smoking gun.
His defense could explain the fibers
away by saying that he hadsimply been with the women,
not killed them.
The police need more proof.
Even with the mounting circumstantial evidence,
there was another problem.
Serial killers have motives.
But for Holmes, Wright is a blank canvas.
There was no reason for him to kill like this.
DAVID HOLMES: One of the curiousfeatures about Wright's killing
is he appears not to haveany other motive than to just
simply kill these people.
Because most killers get some pleasure
either from the killing itself or perhaps
from some aspect of it, sadisticbehavior, with these people.
This seems to be absent in the case of Wright.
Wright is a man who would appear
to be a motiveless killer.
But I think there's something else going on.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Steve Wright might
have been linked to the bodiesthrough forensic evidence.
But because he uses prostitutes, most clues
linking him to the women can be explained away.
The pressure is on thepolice to assemble a case
that will put him behind bars.
The feeling was that thiswas something really serious
and how difficult it was going to be
for us, as a small, provincial force,
to deal with a serial killer.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Despite the DNA match,
the police are still in search of a killer clue.
The prosecution needs something unusual
that couldn't be explainedby a straightforward sexual
encounter between Wright and the women.
And they were about to find it.
Palmer's team find a new kind of fiber
that is present on the bodies.
It is short, wiry, and red.
It belongs to a garment thatis being held by the police,
a reflective workman's jacket that had
been found in Wright's flat.
RAY PALMER: One of thegarments that we identified was
a yellow fluorescent jacket.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Shining a spotlight
on the reflective jacketreveals another tantalizing
piece of evidence.
A subsequentexamination of that jacket
revealed there was blood onthe right sleeve which matched
Annette Nicholls, blood on the left shoulder
which matched Paula Clennell.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: But the tiny drops of blood
could come from a nosebleedor menstrual fluid,
not necessarily from a violent act.
MARK BILLINGHAM: The police were using
every single procedure thatthey had for the gathering
of forensic evidence.
There were, of course, scrapings for DNA,
all that sort of stuff, tapingsfor fibers, hairs, anything
was being analyzed tryingto find that killer
piece of evidence-- the killer piece of evidence
in a fragment of dust.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Palmer ispresented with a problem.
He has helped identify clothingthat ties Wright to the victims
and has even pointed the fingerat a garment that betrays
blood from some of the women.
Despite all of thediscoveries, none of the clues
point to actual violence.
He turns to the first victims to see if their bodies
are still holding any secrets.
Palmer looks at the hair of Adams' and Nicol's.
He's searching for evidencethat the women suffered violence
at the hands of Steve Wright.
After five weeks in ariver, Tania Nicol's hair
is filled with debris.
Palmer decides toseparate out the elements
caught within it using a technique
borrowed from paleontology.
This involved us taking the hair
and washing it in receptacles.
The idea being that the water would allow
any of the hard particulates to sink
to the bottom and any fiber evidence
to rise to the surface.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: As theyfilter these particulates off,
they strike forensic gold.
They discover a tiny synthetic fiber.
The investigation really moves up
a gear when the forensic examiners
find a synthetic fiber deepin the scalp of Tania Nicol.
And it's very easy to match those fibers
with particular types of carpet.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: The forensicteam scour Wright's flat
and his car, searching for a match
to the fiber from Nicol's hair.
This particular fiber matched the fibers
comprising the carpet of Steve Wright's car.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: And there was only one
way this fiber could have got broken
off deep in Nicol's hair.
Now Wright, of course, issaying, yes, she was in my car.
But now the police are thinking, well,
why has her head made very violent contact
with the floor of your car?
And that's when they reallyknow they've got their man.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: The discovery of the fibers
and link to the floor ofWright's car is a vital clue.
It is a powerful addition tothe evidence put to the jury.
ANDY HENWOOD: In court,the evidence was presented.
And there was forensic evidence of fibers.
There was forensicevidence in respect to DNA.
We had CCTV evidence which placed
Steve Wright at thescenes at the right time.
We had ANPR, Automatic NumberPlate Recognition, evidence
which put him travelingalong a main road at a time
when one of the victim's body was deposited.
Wright is bombarded withthe evidence, piece of it
after piece of it.
And all he can do is claim thatit's all just a coincidence.
He's somebody who was in thewrong place at the wrong time.
Yes, I happen to know these women
and used these women sexually.
But, you know, this evidenceis purely coincidental.
He's got nothing.
JOSH WARWICK: And to everyquestion the prosecution
counsel put to him, they would say,
is this coincidence, Mr. Wright?
And every answer would be the same.
"It would seem so."
Very impassive, unemotional,very cold responses.
MARK BILLINGHAM: So there is no smoking gun.
What there is is just aphenomenal amount of damning,
circumstantial forensic evidence.
And faced with that evidence, the jury
have no choice but to find SteveWright guilty on all counts.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Despitethe guilty verdict,
Wright remains an enigma.
For Holmes and Billingham,Wright's sheer normality
is the key to unlock the mystery of his motive.
DAVID HOLMES: The Steve Wright case,
in general, is a very odd one.
You do not have acharacteristic serial killer.
You do not have someonewho is clearly someone who
has, you know, got kind of psychopath
written across their forehead.
Steve Wright appeared to haveone characteristic that did
set him apart from his peers.
And that was his need for taking risk.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: ForBillingham, Wright's life story
shows a steady increase in the amount of risk
he takes with a tragic end result.
He is a man who isdeeply disappointed at just
how ordinary and uneventful his life is.
So what starts off as a bit of theft
because he's got into somefinancial difficulties
escalates into the risk of using prostitutes.
That escalates still further into the risk
of murdering prostitutes.
And that becomes his escape.
That becomes the way he can stop being ordinary.
DAVID HOLMES: But if you look across his life,
the one thing that SteveWright seemed to crave and be
motivated by was simplytaking risk, and taking risks
that were greater and greater.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: For Andy Henwood,
temptation ultimately played a part.
We know that he'd moved into that area
literally weeks beforehand.
It was an area which wasfrequented by sex workers.
Potentially, he's perhapslooked out of the window,
and he's seen the women working.
And it's become too much of a temptation.
Sadly, until such time as he chooses to tell us
why he did this, we just don't know really
why he went on this spree.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: On the 21st of February, 2008,
Wright is found guilty of all five murders
and sentenced to life with a recommendation
that he is never released.
The Suffolk Strangler is finally off the streets.
Remarkably, there has been a positive effect
after Wright's reign of terrorfor the town of Ipswich.
The one really positivething that has come out of it
is the way that prostitutionhas been tackled in Ipswich.
JANET HUMPHREY: When you look atIpswich today and the area that
was blighted by street sex-working, now
compared to 2006, it is acompletely different place.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: Ipswich nowhas the most effective scheme
in place to protect and support sex
workers in the United Kingdom.
JANET HUMPHREY: And so those young women's
deaths weren't in vain because, in a sense,
they've saved many other women.
I think it's been an absolutely positive
effect from something horrific.
NATHAN CONSTANCE: There are no women
on the street for a killerlike Wright to strike down.
[intense music playing]