Prosecution to start in prostitute murder trial

The prosecution is due to launch its case on Wednesday against the former forklift truck driver accused of murdering five prostitutes in Ipswich during an unprecedented killing spree in 2006.

Steve Wright, 49, is accused of killing Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls, whose naked bodies were found dumped at rural locations around the town in the space of just 11 days.

On Monday a jury of 10 men and two women were selected for the trial, which is likely to be one of the most high-profile cases of recent years.

They were told Wright denied five counts of murder and that the trial at Ipswich Crown Court would last up to eight weeks. It will start properly on Wednesday when prosecution lawyer Peter Wright unveils the Crown's case.

The pace at which the bodies of the five murdered women were discovered was said by the local police chief to be unrivalled in British criminal history.

Detectives launched the investigation on December 2, 2006, when the body of Adams, 25, was found in a stream.

The body of 19-year-old Nicol - last seen at the end of October and the first to be reported missing - was discovered in the same stream six days later.

The bodies of the other three - Alderton, a 24-year-old who was three months pregnant, Clennell, also 24, and 29-year-old Nicholls were found over the next four days.

All five were drug users and had become prostitutes as a result of their habit.