KEY POINTS:
To his fellow golfers at Seckford Golf Club near Ipswich, he was "the most boring bloke in the world" - but Steve Wright had for years hidden a secret life of domestic violence, cross-dressing, petty theft, failed suicide attempts and an obsession with prostitutes.
He had even tried
to strangle an ex-wife on several occasions during a turbulent relationship, 20 years before he went on to murder five women in the space of six weeks.
Wright, 49, faces life in jail after being found guilty of murdering five prostitutes. He was convicted after a six-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court.
Wright married Diane Cassell in 1987 after they met on the QE2, where he was a steward and she worked in the on-board shop.
During their short courtship, Cassell had seen only the charming, considerate side of Wright that served as his everyday demeanour. But after they set up home in Halstead, Essex, Wright's violent streak came to the fore.
"Steve used to strangle Diane in front of us," said a former neighbour, Elizabeth Roche.
"He would pin her up against the wall and put both hands around her throat. There were at least three times when he did it. It would end when either my ex-husband or I would pull him off or he would come to his senses."
Roche, 50, also recalled a trait that was to be repeated years later when Wright turned to murder.
"He had an ability to have a violent row one minute and then have a calm conversation with you straight afterwards, as if nothing had happened," she said.
"The only way I can describe it is to say he was a real Jekyll and Hyde character."
Wright's ability to act normally within a short time of committing acts of violence was one of the features of his life as a serial killer.
He would drive his partner, Pamela Wright, to the call centre where she worked night shifts, then trawl the red-light district of Ipswich for prostitutes, whom he would have sex with before strangling or smothering them. After stripping their bodies he would dump them in the countryside around Ipswich and, in two cases, arrange the bodies in the shape of a cross.
He would then go home, change his clothes and go to work as if nothing had happened.
Exactly why he turned to murder has never been explained, but in a letter to his father, Conrad, written from prison while he was awaiting trial, he said: "Whenever I get upset I tend to bury it deep inside, which I suppose is not a healthy thing to do because the more I do that the more withdrawn I become because I have seen too much anger and violence in my childhood to last anyone a lifetime."
Dr Glenn Wilson, a consultant psychologist who has studied the case, said Wright's motive for murder was almost certainly sexual and he strangled the women to satisfy a long-standing fetish.
Sexual deviance, violence and addictive behaviour are themes that run through Wright's chaotic life.
Born in Erpingham, Norfolk, on April 24, 1958, he was the son of an RAF corporal and spent his early years in Singapore and Malta before returning to England at the age of 8. His parents separated and Wright and his brother David, 50, and sisters Tina, 48, and Jeanette, 46, were brought up by their father.
Wright joined the merchant navy and aged 20 married his first wife, Angela O'Donovan, in Milford Haven. They had a son before the short marriage ended. He went back to sea on the QE2 where, he admitted in court, he first acquired his taste for prostitutes, whenever he "got the urge".
He did not, of course, tell his various wives and girlfriends about his "urges", which carried on when he married Cassell in 1987 and took over the Ferry Boat Inn in Norwich's red-light district.
Wright was well known to the prostitutes, most of whom were afraid to have sex with him because of his behaviour.
Some knew him as "the soldier" because he wore camouflage trousers. Others said he would cruise the streets dressed in high heels, a PVC skirt and a wig.
One Norwich prostitute, who remembered Wright even after 20 years, said: "If you didn't get in the car he would get naked and just sit there with the headlights on. He freaked me out. The police knew about him."
Understandably, his ex-wife Diane described the marriage as a "nightmare".
"I was glad when it ended," she said. "It didn't even last a year and he went off with someone else."
Wright moved to Kent and worked in two pubs - the White Horse in Chislehurst and the Rose and Crown in Plumstead - where he met Sarah Whiteley, with whom he had a baby daughter in 1992. She described him as kind, generous and a loving father.
But his reckless streak took hold again and he began gambling and drinking heavily, losing his pub and family. In 1994 he tried to gas himself in a car but was pulled out by police. Six years later he tried to take an overdose of pills.
His half-brother, Keith Wright, said: "He got himself into so much debt. I suppose he couldn't find a way out."
He moved back to Felixstowe, close to his father, and did a series of odd jobs. But his spending was uncontrollable, with much of the money going to prostitutes. He ran up debts of nearly £40,000 ($98,000) and fled to Thailand after declaring himself bankrupt. There he lavished gifts on a Thai girl, Wisa Willshire, while still using prostitutes.
Back in Felixstowe in 2000, Wright worked at a fruit machine arcade but was caught stealing and moved on to work behind a bar at the Brook Hotel.
Colleagues said he was "practically invisible" but he was again caught stealing and brought to court - his only criminal conviction before yesterday.
His next move was into a small rented flat in Ipswich with Pamela Wright. His "urges" came back, but sex was no longer enough. Almost certainly to satisfy a warped sexual fantasy, Wright had an urge to kill.
On October 31, 2006, while his partner was at work, he picked up his first victim, 19-year-old Tania Nicol.
In each case he took great care trying not to leave any evidence to link him to the crime. But perhaps he had forgotten that he had given a DNA sample when he was convicted of theft five years previously. When it was matched to samples found on the bodies, police moved swiftly to arrest him.Wright admitted that he had picked up all five women and had sex with four of them.
Many questions remain. Why did Wright "pose" two of his victims' bodies in the shape of a cross? Did he have an accomplice? Had he killed before? And, if not, why did a man approaching 50 turn into a serial killer?
Unfortunately for the families of his victims, Wright, a man who is an enigma even to his closest friends, seems unlikely to give up his secrets.
KILLER LINKED TO THE FATE OF SIX OTHER WOMEN
SUZY LAMPLUGH, 25
Estate agent: disappeared in July 1986 in Fulham, west London, after going to see a client known as Mr Kipper. Her body was never found. Miss Lamplugh met Wright when they both worked on the QE2 and they stayed in touch when Wright ran a pub in Brixton. Miss Lamplugh's father, Paul, said police had told him that Wright was "of interest" in connection with his daughter's case.
NATALIE PEARMAN, 16
Prostitute who went missing in 1992 from Norwich's red-light district, where Wright once ran a pub. Her semi-naked body was dumped at the Ringland Hills beauty spot near Norwich. She had been strangled. Her mother, Lin, said: "The police have told me that if there is a link with Steve Wright I will be the first to know."
MANDY DUNCAN, 26
Mother-of-two vanished in July 1993 while working as a prostitute in Ipswich. Her body has never been found. An anonymous letter was found in her house threatening her life if she failed to "pay up".
VICKY HALL, 17
Schoolgirl was abducted and suffocated in September 1999 as she walked home to the village of Trimley St Mary, near the home of Wright's father, Conrad. Her body was found in a ditch near Stowmarket five days later. Adrian Bradshaw, a businessman, was charged with her murder but cleared after a trial in 2001.
KELLIE PRATT, 29
Prostitute and heroin addict who disappeared in June 2000 outside a pub in Norwich's red-light district. Her body has never been found. Last seen talking on a mobile phone, which was switched off shortly after she was thought to have been arguing with another woman.
MICHELLE BETTLES, 22
Disappeared from Norwich's red-light district in March 2002. Body found in woodland near Dereham in Norfolk. She had been strangled. Miss Bettles was a regular at the Ferry Boat Inn, once run by Wright. Her father, John, said: "I would like these cases re-opened."
- THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
