Serial killer Steve Wright arrested over 1999 murder of Victoria Hall

Serial killer Steve Wright has been arrested in connection with the unsolved murder of a teenage girl in Suffolk more than 24 years ago.

Victoria Hall, 17, was last seen in the early hours of Sunday, 19 September 1999 in High Road, Trimley St Mary.

Wright, 65, is currently serving a whole life sentence for the murder of five women in Ipswich in 2006.

The BBC understands Wright was initially arrested in 2021 in connection with the Victoria Hall case.

Wright killed Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls, before dumping their bodies around Ipswich in the winter of 2006.

Suffolk Police confirmed the same man initially arrested in 2021 had been rearrested on Wednesday for questioning in connection with the murder of Victoria, whose body was found five days after she was last seen 25 miles (40km) from her home.

He has now been released from police custody under investigation.

The BBC understands Wright was not one of the people originally arrested in the 1999 case.

In September 2019, police revealed the case – known as Operation Avon – was once again a live murder inquiry and was being reinvestigated by a new detective team.

Fresh information had been received that was not previously known, Suffolk Police said.

Officers first arrested Wright on suspicion of murder on 28 July 2021.

Victoria had gone for a night out with a friend on 18 September 1999 at the Bandbox nightclub in Bent Hill, Felixstowe.

She and her friend stayed there until about 01:00 BST on 19 September before leaving to get food at the Bodrum Grill in Undercliff Road West.

They then started to walk back to Trimley St Mary.

Victoria was just a short walk from her home when she and her friend parted company at about 02:20 near the junction of High Road and Faulkeners Way.

When Victoria’s parents woke-up they found she had not returned home and called the police.

A missing person’s inquiry was opened but five days later Victoria’s naked body was found in a ditch beside a field by a dog walker in Creeting Lane, Creeting St Peter.

Suffolk police asked for anyone with information about the case to contact them.