U.K. Prostitute Murder Suspect In Court

A 48-year-old man charged with murdering five prostitutes whose naked bodies were found near an English town during a 10-day period appeared in court for the first time Friday.

Magistrates at Ipswich Magistrates Court remanded Stephen Wright in custody and ordered him to return to the court for another hearing on Jan. 2.

Police charged Wright late Thursday with the five murders in the Ipswich, area about 70 miles northeast of London. He lives in the city's red-light district and was taken into custody in Ipswich on Tuesday.

CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips says Wright had nothing to say for himself at the brief hearing.

Dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt and blue striped tie, the accused man spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth.

Prosecutor Robert Sadd gave a quick outline of the case to magistrates, saying that Wright was accused of the murders, which allegedly occurred on various dates in early December.

Wright's lawyer, Paul Osler, said he would not apply to have his client released on bail.

Phillips reports that Wright's past has been the subject of much media scrutiny in the U.K. But as his case is now before the courts, his lawyer said all of that should come to a stop.

"As you all know, somebody is presumed innocent until found guilty by court," Osler told reporters.

There was a heavy police presence outside the court house during Wright's hearing. Police have expressed concern that intense media coverage could jeopardize the case, and Britain's attorney general warned journalists to report it responsibly.

Wright, who has worked as a driver of trucks and fork lifts, traveled to and from the court amid tight security in a police van escorted by police cars and motorcycles, while dozens of photographers pressed behind crowd control barriers. Wright had been kept in custody at an unidentified police station for three days.

Prosecutor Michael Crimp said there was "sufficient evidence" to charge Wright with the murders of Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell, Annette Nicholls and Gemma Adams.

Another man, a 37-year-old area resident who had been arrested Monday, was released on bail, Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull said.

Police did not name the man or say whether he remained a suspect. Investigators had until Friday evening to charge or release the man — identified in news reports as Tom Stephens. He had been arrested at his home in Trimley St. Martin, eight miles southeast of Ipswich.

The reports identified Stephens as a part-time taxi driver, supermarket worker and former volunteer police officer. He was quoted in an interview with the Sunday Mirror newspaper as saying he knew all the victims, and regarded himself as their protector.

All five victims had been working as prostitutes and their naked bodies were found in rural areas around Ipswich during a 10-day period beginning Dec. 2.

Town authorities organized shuttle services to get women home from the local council offices, and the council's monthly newsletter was publishing a safety message: "Stick Together" — advising all women in the city to stay off the streets alone. Two of the town's largest employers have equipped their female employees with panic alarms.

The suspected serial killer reminded Britons of the so-called Yorkshire Ripper who killed 13 women over five years in the 1970s. That killing spree prompted comparisons to Jack the Ripper, the notorious Victorian serial killer who murdered at least five East London prostitutes in 1888.

Inquests into the deaths of all five women have been formally opened and then adjourned, as is usual in British legal procedure.

A senior pathologist determined Clennell, 24, died of "compression" to her neck — police refused to elaborate — and Alderton, 24, was strangled. Post-mortem examinations of the bodies of Nicol, 19, Nicholls, 29, and Adams, 25, reached no conclusion on the cause of death.