Judge imposes life sentence following forensic breakthrough in historic murder case
A serial killer already serving a whole-life order has been sentenced for the kidnap and murder of a teenager more than 25 years after the offence, following advances in forensic DNA analysis.
Steve Wright, 67, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday (6 February), where he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years for the kidnap and murder of 17-year-old Victoria Hall in 1999. He also received concurrent sentences for the attempted kidnap of another young woman, Emily Doherty, the previous day.
Wright, formerly of Ipswich, is already serving a whole-life tariff for the murders of five women in Suffolk in 2006.
The conviction followed a forensic breakthrough achieved by Suffolk Police and the Crown Prosecution Service using modern Y-STR DNA profiling. The technique enabled experts to isolate a male DNA profile from samples retained from the original investigation, linking Wright to the offence for the first time. The technology was not available at the time of the killing.
Victoria Hall was abducted after leaving a nightclub in Felixstowe on 19 September 1999. Her body was discovered five days later in a ditch near Creeting St Peter. Wright had previously denied involvement but entered a guilty plea on 2 February after being confronted with the new evidence.
Samantha Woolley, Specialist Prosecutor for CPS East of England, said the case had been strengthened by “pioneering new forensic techniques”, alongside other evidence which ultimately led to Wright’s guilty plea.
Sentencing, Mr Justice Bennathan said that although the sentence would run concurrently with Wright’s existing whole-life order, it was necessary to mark the gravity of the offence and provide accountability to the victim’s family. The judge told Wright that he had “snatched her away” and “crushed that young life”, adding that it was “well nigh certain” he would die in prison.
The CPS said the conviction demonstrated the importance of retaining forensic evidence, allowing historic cases to be revisited as scientific techniques develop.
The sentencing brings formal closure to a long-running investigation into one of Suffolk’s most significant unsolved murders. Victoria Hall’s father, Graham Hall, said the outcome brought some justice, but described it as “bittersweet” following the death of Victoria’s mother in December 2025, shortly before the conviction