'Stop linking my sister's murder to Steve Wright'

The sister of a teenager murdered more than 30 years ago is asking people to stop linking her death to the serial killer Steve Wright - adding that not having answers has "taken a massive toll" on her family.

Natalie Pearman, 16, was found dead in a lay-by at Ringland, near Norwich, on 20 November 1992.

Wright - who killed five women in and around Ipswich in 2006 - admitted the 1999 Felixstowe murder of Victoria Hall last week.

Natalie's killer has never been found, but her sister Georgina Simpson said: "Every time [Wright's] mentioned, Natalie's put with him as a 'potential victim', which she's not." Police say they have a full DNA profile of the suspect.

Natalie's body was found at 03:50 GMT by a lorry driver en-route to work. She was last seen alive in Rouen Road, Norwich, at 01:15 and had been working as a sex worker at the time.

Since then, more than 4,000 people have been interviewed by police and a large number provided samples for DNA testing.

Georgina said her sister was "was just a normal 16-year-old girl", and that she loved horses, gymnastics and art.

"She had a few troubles at home and she was put into foster care to try and get her away from some people that she was spending time with that weren't very good influences and everything just went horribly wrong from there," she said.

Wright is currently serving a whole-life term for the murders of five sex workers in Ipswich, and was told last week by a judge passing sentence for the murder of Victoria Hall that "it is well nigh certain you will die in prison".

Georgina said she understood her sister's case "does tick a lot of the boxes but it's not him so we need to stop assuming that it was him when it wasn't and start looking at other potential people.

"The person that did this is still out there.

"They may have passed away by now, but it's not [Wright]. I wish it was because then we could put this to bed as well. And I'm so relieved for the families of those who have been able to do that with his confessions, but we're not one of those families, unfortunately."

She believes the link to Wright may be frustrating the police investigation, adding that "by putting Natalie with Steve Wright all the time repeatedly it's not getting us anywhere, it's hindering, if anything".

Georgina urged people with information to come forward and said the family had wanted to get closure for her mother, but she died last May.

"I'll always hold out hope, always," she said.

"We may not have got closure for mum but there's always that slight chance that this will get solved and I'll forever hold on to that no matter how small the percentage - I'll always hold on to it."

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