DAY 1: Wright "killed while partner at work"

LONDON (Reuters) - Steve Wright, the man accused of killing five female prostitutes in Ipswich, murdered the women while his partner was at work, his trial was told on Wednesday.

Around the beginning of October, shortly before the killings began, Wright moved to 79 London Road in Ipswich's red light district, a house he rented with his partner Pamela Wright.

She worked at a call centre at an industrial park just off the A14 road, on the same side of Ipswich as the area Nacton, where the last three bodies were found.

He was working in Hadleigh, an area slightly to the west of where the bodies of the first two women, Tania Nicol and Gemma Adams were found.

The killings stopped for a fortnight and then restarted after his wife returned to work after illness and holidays, the court was told.

On December 1 he was stopped by police officers driving slowly through the red light district. He told them he couldn't sleep.

"It is the Crown's case that whilst Miss Wright was at work and engaged on the nightshift, the defendant was engaged in other activities," prosecutor Peter Wright said.

"Namely picking up women acting as prostitutes in the red light district of Ipswich and... killing them by asphyxiation or manual compression of the neck whilst they were severely affected by opiates."