Wright's city pub was girls' safe haven Although the killings of five prostitutes took place in neighbouring Suffolk there were numerous links to this county. Some of the victims regularly worked in Norwich, one of the original suspects grew up in the city and, as Sarah Hall found out, the girls' killer had strong ties here too.
It's the late 1980s and the Ferry Boat Inn, overlooking the River Wensum and just a few minutes walk from Carrow Road, is a thriving pub.
A popular meeting point for football fans and also a respected live music venue, the pub also hides a seedier side as an unofficial “safe haven” for the many prostitutes who ply their trade nearby.
For a short while the name above the door reads Steve Wright, an amicable landlord, who was born in the county and took over the running of the pub after being made redundant from his job as a steward on the QE2.
At the time his name meant little to those who drank there.
However, fast forward 20 years and it is instantly recognisable as the man charged, and subsequently found guilty of, one of the most heinous crimes of modern times.
Although time has muddled people's memories of Wright's time in the city, there are still many who remember him to this day.
In particular those who can vividly recall a time when the pub was regarded a safe haven for street workers, and Wright as someone who would look after them and ensure they came to no physical harm.
During his time at the King Street pub Wright, a father-of-three but by this time divorced from his first wife, would also trawl the city's streets for sex.
When he was named as the chief suspect for the killings of the five Suffolk prostitutes in December 2006 there was then a feeling of shock amongst the city's street workers who remembered him all too well.
Speaking to the Evening News at the time, former prostitute Tracey Kennett, 32, who worked in the Rouen Road and Ber Street areas of Norwich from 1998 but stopped in 2002, said: “I did recognise him and I went cold all over.”
Others claimed he was a cross dresser who liked to wear a wig and PVC skirts, but this has never been proven and did not come out in the trial at Ipswich Crown Court.
Wright ran the Ferry Boat with his second wife Diane Cole, whom he married at Braintree Register Office in Essex, in August 1987.
Mrs Cole said today she now believes he only married her so he could gain the tenancy of the pub, as the landlord had to be married.
Mrs Cole, who was 32 at the time, said: "It was a disaster. It was as if I didn't exist. On the wedding night he said to me at the reception, 'I suppose we had better consummate the marriage then'.
"They were his exact words. I realised once we were married that he had really just used me to get a pub. We were man and wife only in name.
"He started to go out every night. As soon as the pub shut he was off.
"He said there was just one set of keys for the pub, and he would shut the door and leave me locked inside. I had to use the emergency fire exit if I wanted to go out."
Mrs Cole then discovered Wright was sleeping with two other women. At a staff leaving party, she took the microphone and told guests she had an announcement to make. "I said, 'Can I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen? First of all I would like to thank you all for coming here and thank Linda, who has worked so hard for us. It will be sad to see her go. And secondly, I would like to thank you all who knew my husband was having an affair.'
Wright waited half an hour before storming their bedroom above the pub. Mrs Cole said: "He dragged me by my feet off the bed, ranting and raving, and he said he would come up every half an hour to get me.
"And he was true to his word. He came up about three times, pulling me off the bed, throwing the furniture around, I barricaded myself in. But he got in and hit me about the face and body, I was knocked out."
They parted in July, 1988, and the next time she heard his name was on December 19, 2006, when details of his arrest for the Suffolk murders emerged.
Mair Talbot, manager of the King Street-based Magdalene Group, which looks after the interests of prostitutes in Norwich, remembered him from his time in the city.
She said: “When Steve Wright was arrested, there was a feeling of disbelief among some of the sex workers. Some of them said he was a “safe” person and the pub was a safe haven for some of them. They always thought he would look after them so I guess this is the image he had.
“They said he was someone who would defend them and look after them if needed.”
Even now after all that has happened many people were still finding it hard to believe how a man described as “ordinary and unremarkable” could be responsible for such brutal murders.
Julian Foster, chairman of the Central Norwich Citizens' Forum, has spent the past few years working towards improving lives for sex workers in Norwich. He used to frequent the Ferry Boat Inn when Wright was landlord. He said: “I do vaguely remember him being behind the bar but he didn't' really stand out in my mind. He was quite ordinary looking.
“He would have had contact with a lot of sex workers because many of them used to drink in there when they were not working.
“They would have got to know him quite well as anyone who ran the pub would have done. He would have had regular communication with them.”
Wright's ties to the county go back to the very beginning of his life. He was the son of an RAF Corporal born in the small, picturesque Norfolk village of Erpingham, near Acle, but his father worked at RAF Beckham so he was bought up near Sheringham.
Families living in Erpingham today said they did not know much about Wright or his family but were shocked one of their former residents was capable of such terrible acts.
A man from the Spread Eagle pub, the village's only pub, claimed he worked with Wright at Bernard Matthews' factory in Witchingham about 20 years ago but said he was “quite unremarkable” and he didn't really remember much about him.
“I remember his face but I don't really know anything about him. I didn't realise he was from around here.”
Pippa Turner who lives in neighbouring village Calthorpe, said: “There are a lot of Wrights who live around here but I am not sure which ones are related to Steve.
“It is shocking really that he was born here and now in court with everyone across the country knowing about the murders. It makes me shudder.”
Another woman who lives on The Street said: “A lot of people have been asking about Steve Wright. It seems he was born here but didn't stay about for very long. I have lived here 40 years and do not know him and I am not sure which Wrights from around here are related to him.”
Even when Wright settled in Ipswich he kept his ties to Norfolk and prostitutes said he regularly travelled here to pick up vice girls.
“He used to go to Norwich about once a month,” said an Ipswich prostitute called Kelly. “I have a friend who's a prostitute in Norwich who slept with him and told me about him.”
For a special investigation into prostitution in Norwich and how the case has changed life for the city's street workers see tomorrow's Evening News.
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