Court told Suffolk killer's "blood on victim's coat"

By Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters) - Blood stains on the jacket of a man accused of murdering five prostitutes in Ipswich came from two of his victims, a court heard on Friday.

There was a one in a billion chance the blood staining found on a reflective jacket in Steve Wright's home were not from the murdered prostitutes, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Semen, also said to have come from Wright, was also found on the jacket, the court was told.

Wright, 49, denies killing Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29, whose naked bodies were found dumped at rural locations around the town within the space of just 10 days.

Two victims were found with their bodies deliberately posed in a cruciform shape with their arms outstretched, the court has been told.

He struck after cruising the red light district near his home for suitable victims while his partner was working night shifts and might have had an accomplice, the court heard.

The victims, selected systematically, died while fighting for breath, asphyxiated while under the influence of hard drugs, prosecutors allege.

Giving evidence at the trial on Friday, Dr Peter Hau, a forensic scientist with expertise in DNA profiling, said it was the profiles of Clennell and Nicholls that were found in Wright's home.