Steve Wright given 40 years for Victoria Hall murder

Serial killer Steve Wright has been sentenced to 40 years for the kidnap and murder of 17-year-old Victoria Hall, and the attempted kidnap of another woman, more than 25 years ago.

The 67-year-old, who is already serving a whole life term for the murder of five women in and around Ipswich in 2006, had been "on the prowl" in Felixstowe, Suffolk, in September 1999, the Old Bailey was told.

Wright attempted to kidnap 22-year-old Emily Doherty and, the night after, kidnapped and killed Victoria, whose naked body was found in a ditch five days later.

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Bennathan said: "For reasons only you know, you snatched her away and you crushed that young life."

In December 2006, Wright murdered Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Annette Nicholls, Paula Clennell and Gemma Adams. All five were sex workers in Ipswich.

The judge told him the term he imposed would "almost certainly make no difference", given Wright's whole life order for his previous killings, but he nonetheless felt it was his duty to decide on a proper sentence, knowing it "could never heal the bereaved family's loss and grief".

Wright had been expected to stand trial later this year but admitted all charges on Monday - the first time he had publicly admitted any murder.

On Saturday 19 September, Victoria had had a drink and a dance with her friend, Gemma Algar, at the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe, before they both walked home to Trimley St Mary at 01:00 BST.

"They parted company quite close to their homes and that's the last time anyone - apart from you - saw Victoria Hall alive," the judge told Wright.

Gemma and various neighbours reported hearing two high-pitched screams, with others detecting a car driving off at speed.

• As it happened: Live updates from the Old Bailey

Five days later, Victoria's body was found in Creeting St Peter, about 25 miles (40km) away.

Expert evidence showed she had been asphyxiated within an hour or two of being abducted.

The fact she was naked and DNA swabs taken from her body "showed you not only abducted and murdered that child, you also raped or sexually assaulted her", the judge told Wright.

On 18 September, the night before Victoria's abduction, Doherty had been at the same club when she became separated from her friends and husband and decided to set off to where she was staying.

"You tried to kidnap her but she was too alert and too quick and escaped, managing to rouse a couple by banging on their front door, who then called police," the judge told Wright.

"I am sure that if you had managed to abduct her you would have killed her.

"That is a dreadful thing to conclude, but I do so based on what you did the next night, what you did in 2006, and on the simple fact Miss Doherty had seen your face and your car's numberplate.

"There is no way you would have set her free to have you arrested."

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Doherty said: "I have never been so scared in my life. I thought my heart was going to explode in my chest.

"I had never ran so fast or jumped over walls like that."

She said police made no notes of what she said, did not believe her and questioned how much she had drunk.

"To this day, I am furious," she added.

"I wasn't taken serious. I was made to feel like a silly little girl.

"They told me to forget all about it."

Doherty had been left with lifelong anxieties and a sense of guilt, "blaming herself – absolutely wrongly" for not being more insistent that police took her case more seriously, the judghe said.

The Old Bailey also heard officers stopped their research into possible vehicles linked to Victoria's abduction and that Wright's DNA was in the national database from 2001, 20 years before he was arrested over Victoria's death.

The DNA led to him being identified as a suspect in the 2006 murders, but it took advances in scientific analysis to provide evidence linking him to swabs taken from Victoria's body at the time.

Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC also referenced a possible inquiry into missed opportunities, telling the court: "A decision will be made by Suffolk Police as to the format and ambit of any inquiry following the hearing."

Wright, wearing a grey sweatshirt and trousers, showed no emotion, even as Gemma, and Victoria's brother, Steven - who also spoke on behalf of his father, Graham - cried while detailing what his actions have done to them.

The judge said Wright's delayed guilty plea meant that Victoria's mother, Lorinda, died in December "without knowing her daughter's killer had been finally brought to justice".

Wright was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 40 years, for murder, 12 years for Victoria's kidnap, and nine years for the attempted kidnap of Doberty.

The sentences will run concurrently.

"Even if this were your only life sentence, given your obvious dangerousness and your age, it is extraordinarily unlikely you would ever be released," said the judge.

"Given the sentence already imposed for your other dreadful crimes, it is well nigh certain you will die in prison."

Outside the court, Graham Hall spoke of his sadness that his late wife did not live to to see this day but added "she did know it was probably Steve Wright".

"Victoria was a loving girl with her whole life before her, with plans of what she wanted to achieve," he said.

"All of this was snatched away by Steve Wright."

Det Ch Insp Matthew Connick, of Suffolk Police, commended the Hall family for their resilience and said police did not "underestimate the impact" on Doherty.

"I am glad we have been able to provide answers and a sense of justice delivered," he added.

Wright had made "significant attempts to cover his tracks" – including selling his car – but had "no alternative" but to plead guilty with the weight of evidence against him, he said.

Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.