The murder of Victoria Hall went unsolved for more than a quarter of a century before Suffolk strangler Steve Wright finally admitted his guilt.
Wright, now 67, had been due to go on trial at the Old Bailey over the 17-year-old’s murder.
But the killer dramatically changed his plea on Monday and admitted Victoria’s kidnap “by force or fraud” and murder, on 19 September 1999.
Former merchant seaman Wright is being held at Category A HMP Long Lartin, in Worcestershire.
He is already serving a whole life prison sentence for the murders of five women seven years after Victoria was killed.
This is how events unfolded.
18 September 1999
Steve Wright attempts to abduct 22-year-old Emily Doherty in the early hours of the morning along High Road East, Felixstowe.
Victoria, from Trimley St Mary in Suffolk, leaves her home for a night out with her friend Gemma Algar at the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe.
19 September 1999
The friends leave the nightclub at about 1am, walk back to Trimley St Mary and part at about 2.20am near to the junction of High Road and Faulkeners Way, where Victoria is just yards away from her home.
When Victoria’s parents wake up that morning and discover she has not returned home, the police are called and a missing person inquiry begins.
24 September 1999
Victoria’s body is found in a ditch in Creeting St Peter, about 25 miles from where she was last seen.
13 November 1999
More than 300 people gather for a memorial service at St Martin’s Church, Trimley.
15 September 2000
Victoria’s parents, Graham and Lorinda Hall, make a renewed public appeal for help to find her killer.
20 November 2001
Businessman Adrian Bradshaw, then aged 27, from Felixstowe, Suffolk, is cleared of Victoria’s murder at Norwich Crown Court.
Autumn 2006
Tania Nicol, 19, vanishs from Ipswich’s red light area, followed by Gemma Adams, 25, about two weeks later, triggering a major inquiry.
December 2006
Miss Adams’s body is found in a stream at Hintlesham, followed by the discovery of Miss Nicol’s remains in a pond at Copdock.
Two days later, the body of Anneli Alderton, 24, is found in woods at Nacton, and sex workers in the town are urged to stay off the streets.
On December 12, the bodies of Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29, are found near woods at Levington.
19 December 2006
Steve Wright, then aged 48, is arrested at his home in the centre of Ipswich near the red light district.
22 February 2008
Wright is handed a whole-life order after being found guilty of five Ipswich murders.
24 February 2009
The serial killer loses a Court of Appeal bid to challenge his conviction for the Ipswich murders.
October 2016
Ten years on from the disappearance of his first Ipswich victim, Wright’s elderly father Conrad Wright calls on his son to confess.
September 2019
Suffolk Police say that the Victoria Hall case, known as Operation Avon, is now a live inquiry again and being reinvestigated by a new team of detectives.
July 2021
Wright is first arrested as part of the inquiry into the teenager’s death.
December 2023
Wright is rearrested.
May 2024
He is charged with Victoria’s kidnap and murder and the attempted abduction of Ms Doherty. He later pleads not guilty and the case is transferred to the Old Bailey for trial.
December 2025
Victoria’s mother Lorinda Hall dies before seeing justice done for her daughter.
January 2026
In legal argument, Wright fails in a bid to prevent jurors in his forthcoming trial being told about his five murder convictions.
February 2 2026
On what would have been the first day of his trial, Wright dramatically changes his plea and admits murder for the first time. He will be sentenced on 6 February.
