1.30pm GMT update Suffolk serial killer Steve Wright jailed for life
Steve Wright will spend the rest of his life in jail for killing five women in Suffolk in what prosecutors described as a six-week "campaign of murder".
Judge Mr Justice Gross, at Ipswich crown court, ruled that Wright, a 49-year-old former forklift truck driver, should serve a whole life term and never be released.
The murders of the women, all of whom worked as prostitutes in Ipswich, terrified the town and led to one of the country's biggest police investigations.
"It is right you should spend your whole life in prison," the judge said. "This was a targeted campaign of murder."
He told Wright a life sentence was mandatory, but that he had to decide whether or not he should be eligible for parole.
"I must pass a sentence which meets the justice of the case," he added. "In my judgment, upon reflection it must be a whole life term."
The judge said the case met the legal requirements for a whole life sentence because the murders involved a "substantial degree of premeditation and planning".
He pointed to the "macabre" way in which Wright had arranged two of the women's bodies in a crucifix form.
He said Wright had targeted vulnerable women. "Drugs and prostitution meant they were at risk. But neither drugs nor prostitution killed them. You did," he added.
"You killed them, stripped them and left them ... why you did it may never be known."
As Gross said he should serve a "whole life" jail term, Wright stared ahead. As he was led away to begin his sentence, he made no eye contact with anyone else in court.
There was no reaction from the relatives of the murder victims, who witnessed proceedings from the public gallery.
Wright's brother, David, and sister, Jeanette, sobbed throughout. They left the court hand in hand without making any comment.
Following the sentencing, Wright's solicitor, Mark Haslam, said the defence team would be considering whether there were grounds for an appeal.
The deputy chief constable of Suffolk, Jacqui Cheer, said of the sentence: "At the start of the inquiry we could not have asked for anything more.
"It is a tribute to all the people who have been involved - not only police officers but their support teams and all the members of the public who phoned in offering information.
"I've never been in the position of the families. I cannot imagine what it is like. We can only hope this brings some closure for them."
A crowd of around 30 people looked on as Wright was driven away to London, and there were shouts of "scum''.
Sources said he would be taken to Belmarsh prison, in south-east London, where he would undergo routine psychiatric assessments and be placed on suicide watch.
It is believed he will serve his sentence at a high-security prison - possibly Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, or Whitemoor, near March, Cambridgeshire.
The jury yesterday took fewer than six hours to find Wright responsible for the murders.
Tania Nicol, 19, Gemma Adams, 25, 24-year-old Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell, also 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29, were all drug addicts who were working as prostitutes when they were picked up and murdered by Wright, a regular customer who lived in the red light district and whom several of them knew well.
Their naked bodies were found dumped around the town - two in a stream and the other three in woods - over a 10-day period in December 2006.
Speaking after the verdicts yesterday, the families of Nicol and Clennell called for the death penalty to be reintroduced.
"While five young lives have been cruelly ended, the person responsible will be kept warm, nourished and protected," the Nicol family said in a statement. "In no way has justice been done. These crimes deserve the ultimate punishment."
Robert Sadd, the crown advocate for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in Suffolk, said the conviction had been "based on science".
Wright was identified because his DNA had been added to the national database following an earlier conviction for theft. His profile was stored in 2003 after he was convicted of stealing £80 while working as a hotel barman.
New techniques allowing microscopic fibres to be identified also proved critical - a single black nylon fibre from the footwell of Wright's car was found in Nicol's hair, despite the fact her body had lain in water for five weeks before it was discovered.
Wright's DNA was found on three of the women's bodies, while microscopic fibres from his clothing, car and home were discovered on all five.
Blood belonging to two of the women was found on his reflective jacket, along with specks of blood in his car.
CCTV and numberplate recognition technology had also placed his car in the red light district at the time several of the women disappeared.
The court heard that Wright picked up the women while they worked in the streets around his home before killing them while they were incapacitated by heavy doses of drugs.
He argued that he had had sex with the women but had not killed them, saying it was merely coincidental that forensic evidence linked him to all five.
Although the jury's verdicts were decisive, prosecutors admitted yesterday they remained puzzled about the motive behind the killings.
Wright's only previous conviction is for minor theft, and CPS sources yesterday said they were not aware of any evidence linking him to unsolved cases.
"No doubt our police colleagues will be looking at whether this fits with anything else, but we are not aware of any other link at this stage," a source said.
A number of "cold cases", including several unsolved prostitute murders, have been examined by forces across Britain since Wright's arrest.
Yesterday, the father of the estate agent Suzy Lamplugh told the Guardian he had been contacted by Metropolitan police officers investigating possible connections between Wright and his daughter, who disappeared in 1986.
It is known that Wright and Lamplugh were acquaintances when they worked on the QE2 in the early 80s.
Cleveland police said they had not ruled out a link between Wright and the murder of Vicky Glass, a heroin addict who vanished from Middlesbrough in September 2000.
Her naked body was later found in a stream in the North York Moors.
Map of the area surrounding Ipswich showing the locations where the bodies of the victims were discovered 
Steve Wright, yesterday convicted of the murder of five women in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, has today been sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court to life imprisonment. The bodies of the five women who worked as sex workers in Ipswich were found around the town in December 2006.

The judge, Mr Justice Gross said that a "substantial degree of pre-meditation and planning" was involved meaning the requirments for a whole life sentence for Wright was met. He said, "This was a targeted campaign of murder. It is right you should spend your whole life in prison." 

Speaking after the sentencing, Deputy Chief Constable of Suffolk Police, Jacqui Cheer said, "At the start of the inquiry we could not have asked for anything more. It is a tribute to all the people who have been involved - not only police officers but their support teams and all the members of the public who phoned-in offering information."