The mother of a teenage girl has passed away shortly before a notorious criminal is set to face trial for the alleged murder of her daughter. Lorinda Hall, aged 70, peacefully passed away in Ipswich Hospital on December 18, without seeing justice served for her daughter Victoria, who vanished in 1999 after leaving a nightclub in Felixstowe, Suffolk, at the age of 17. Victoria’s body was discovered five days later in a water-filled ditch 25 miles away near Stowmarket.
The news of Lorinda’s death made headlines as her family has been waiting for answers for 27 years. The accused serial killer, Steve Wright, aged 67, was charged with Victoria’s abduction and murder in 2024 following a cold case review by the police. Despite pleading not guilty to the charges, Wright is scheduled to stand trial at the Old Bailey next month.
Lorinda was laid to rest recently at the Seven Hills Crematorium near Ipswich, with a funeral notice honoring her as a beloved wife, mother, and grandmother to her two grandchildren, deeply missed by all her loved ones. Donations totaling nearly £1,000 have been raised in memory of Lorinda for East Anglia’s Children’s.
Victoria had left her residence in Trimley St Mary on the night of September 18, 1999, for a night out at the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe, accompanied by her friend Gemma Algar. The two parted ways around 2.20am on September 19 while walking home from the club.
Tragically, Victoria’s lifeless body was discovered in a ditch in Creeting St Peter, approximately 25 miles from where she was last seen, triggering a widespread search, media appeals, and the offering of a reward.
Wright, previously residing on London Road in Ipswich, denied the charges of Victoria’s abduction and murder. The presiding judge, Mr. Justice Bennathan, allowed the jury to be informed of Wright’s prior convictions for the murder of five women. The trial for Wright is scheduled to commence on February 2, anticipated to last four weeks.
Currently serving a life sentence for the murders of five women in Ipswich in 2006, Wright was found guilty of killing Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell, and Annette Nicholls before discarding their bodies.