'I want my ex-husband Steve Wright to come clean'

The ex-wife of serial killer Steve Wright has spoken of the abuse she suffered at his hands and how she hopes he will tell the truth about his victims.

Diane Cole, now 71, met Wright when they worked on the QE2 cruise ship and they ran a pub in Norwich in the late 1980s.

He controlled every aspect of her life and his physical violence put her in hospital, years before he killed Victoria Hall in Felixstowe in 1999 and five women in the Ipswich area in 2006. Already serving a life jail sentence, he has now been given a further jail term for killing Victoria.

Diane said she was surprised Wright admitted killing the 17-year-old, adding: "I only hope he comes clean about any more."

The BBC spoke to Diane following Wright's change of plea at the Old Bailey on Monday. His guilty plea to a charge of murdering Victoria was the first time he had publicly admitted killing anyone.

He also pleaded guilty to the attempted kidnap of 22-year-old Emily Doherty the night before.

Wright, now 67, is already serving a whole life term, meaning he will never be released, after being found guilty of the murders of Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls. All five were sex workers in Ipswich and Wright had denied killing them, and has never admitted it.

His latest conviction has again raised the question of whether Wright was behind unsolved crimes, including the disappearance of 28-year-old Kellie Pratt, last seen in Norwich in 2000, and Amanda Duncan, 26, who went missing in Ipswich in 1993.

Diane lived and worked with Wright when he was landlord at The Ferry Boat, a pub in what was then Norwich's red-light district.

Recalling their life together, she said he had seemed "all right" when they first met, and they had married in 1987 in order to run the pub together.

"He just started to control me and then got violent," she explained.

"He loses his temper - quick - for no reason at all.

"It was just awful; very violent."

Wright also exerted financial control, leaving her "penniless".

"He was just so domineering and you just couldn't talk back to him," she added.

She said she felt devastated by his outbursts and would go to a neighbour's house to give him time to "cool down", but was unable to speak out because she felt "too embarrassed".

"I felt a failure; that's how he made me feel," she added.

Police officers were aware of the abuse and came to see her in hospital after Wright had knocked her off her feet and she hit the floor, she said.

The attacks were "at random, when he was in the mood".

"He was terrible, I couldn't read him at all," she added.

"I never knew what he was going to do next."

Diane eventually left Wright and returned to her hometown of Hartlepool in County Durham.

During their time together she never suspected him of doing anything like what has since emerged, but he had also "disappeared a lot", she said.

She also did not know whether there were further victims, but added: "I expect them to turn up, and there could well be more.

"I just hope he tells the truth and puts the [families] a bit more at ease."

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