Trucker's home is searched in swoop

INQUESTS into the deaths of four murdered prostitutes will be opened by a coroner today.

It comes a day after police arrested a second man in a move described as "significant" by sources close to the investigation.

Suffolk Police this morning confirmed it had been granted a further 12 hours to question the 48-year-old following a superintendent's review.

The man, named locally as lorry driver Steve Wright, was arrested yesterday at his home in Ipswich near the town's red light district.

A spokesman for Suffolk Police said: "Following a superintendent's review, police have a further 12 hours to question the 48-year-old man arrested on suspicion of the murder of five women.

"He remains in custody at a police station in Suffolk."

The bodies of five women were discovered near villages south of Ipswich during a ten-day spell.

A coroner will today open and adjourn inquests into the deaths of Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Annette Nicholls, 29, and Paula Clennell, 24, at Ipswich Crown Court.

The inquest into the death of a fifth victim, 25-year-old Gemma Adams, was opened last week.

Miss Alderton, who has a young son, used to live and work in Huddersfield. She lived in Marsden and Primrose Hill during her time in the town and still has family inn Huddersfield.

Yesterday, detectives were given an extra 36 hours by a magistrate to question supermarket worker and former special constable Tom Stephens, 37, a day after he was arrested at his home in Trimley St Martin.

Officers have refused to confirm the identities of both suspects.

Forensic officers and search teams spent yesterday at both addresses and police cordoned off part of a road where Wright lives.

Members of Wright's family were last night at their home in Felixstowe, Suffolk - where they were visited by two plain clothes policemen.

His father Conrad, 72, told newspapers he did not believe his son, who he has not seen since 2001, could have carried out the killings.

"When I heard there had been an arrest of a 48-year-old man in Ipswich I actually piped up and said, 'Steve's 48 and lives in Ipswich'. But I never thought it would be him in a million years.

"I don't actually think he's clever enough to commit these crimes, they take a level of intelligence that I don't think Steve has. He's just not capable of killing people."

He added: "My son could not have done something horrific like this."

Wright, a lorry driver based in Mendlesham, north of Ipswich, moved to London Road in the town centre three months ago with his partner Pam, who works in IT support at a call centre in Felixstowe.

Last night friends comforted her as she came to terms with the arrest.

Sheila Davis, landlady at the Uncle Tom's Cabin pub near their former home, said: "Pam is distraught, she doesn't believe it and thinks it has all been concocted.

"She is shattered and she is tired, she is not allowed to go home and she is not allowed to speak to Steve."

Wright plays golf and was keen on the occasional bet.

Steve Morris, who runs Silks Racing bookmakers, said Wright used to go in "every couple of weeks" to place a bet.

Meanwhile yesterday, forensic teams searched the home of Stephens's mother near Ipswich.

Stephens's ex-wife Judith was not at her home in the town, but a neighbour said she was "feeling low".

Police sources said Stephens had worked as a special constable in Norfolk in the 1990s and as a taxi driver in Ipswich.

The bodies of the five women were all found naked earlier this month, although police said they had not been sexually assaulted.

Officers said Miss Alderton had been strangled and Miss Clennell had died as a result of "compression" to the neck.

The causes of death were unclear for the other three women and toxicology tests were being carried out.