Wright's partner proves key to conviction

LONDON (Reuters) - Steve Wright's partner, Pamela, 63, did not give evidence at the trial nor make a statement to the police but her movements were to prove a vital component of the prosecution case.

She had been with 49-year-old Wright for eight years, the month-long trial heard, and worked night shifts at a call centre.

Crucially, during the intensive killing spree, no murders were committed when she had a two-week period off the night shift.

Around the beginning of October 2006, shortly before the killings began, Wright moved to 79 London Road in Ipswich's red light district, with Pamela.

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

During his evidence, Wright told the jury he started paying for sex in Ipswich after his partner started on the night shifts, because the pair rarely saw each other.

Wright said she did not know he regularly used prostitutes, both in his car and occasionally at home.

"If she found out, she would probably have left me," he admitted to jurors. "I did not feel good about myself. It was a situation I got myself in (to)."

They had met working in a bingo hall in nearby Felixstowe.