Police defend taking 26 years to find teen’s killer

0
1
Martin Giles/BBC Det Supt Phill Gray slightly smiles at the camera. He has dark and grey hair that has been shaved closely to his head. He wears a black suit with a white shirt and red tie. The background behind him is blurred.Martin Giles/BBC

Did the police miss opportunities?

In 2008, Wright was convicted for the murders of five women in and around Ipswich, so why was he then not considered in Victoria’s case?

Also, just the day before Victoria disappeared, Wright had attempted to kidnap Emily Doherty Why did Suffolk Police not link those two incidents sooner?

Det Supt Phill Gray is head of the Joint Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigations Team.

He said in 1999, the investigation into Victoria’s murder was the biggest the force had been carrying out at that time and it involved “a lot of information”.

Gray said the investigative techniques and forensic opportunities at the force’s disposal today had not been available then, or even in 2008, when Wright was convicted of the five murders.

“Steve Wright in 1999 was an individual, a name of an individual, along with other individuals, but he wasn’t the Steve Wright that we later established in 2008,” he explained.

“It was the DNA evidence, as our prosecution barrister highlighted, that glued all of that circumstantial evidence together to build such a strong case that led to his guilty plea,” Gray said.

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: BBC