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A woman who was stalked by the serial killer Steve Wright shortly before he murdered 17-year-old Victoria Hall believes that Wright had been trying to kidnap her as well. This woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, recalls a night out with friends in Felixstowe, Suffolk, on 16 September 1999 when a man began following them.
The group had planned to visit the Bandbox nightclub but found it closed for a private event. As they decided to head home around midnight, they noticed a man sitting on a bench across the road watching them. Describing the man, she said, “He had a hood covering him, it was a bit strange and it looked a bit unusual.” As they walked through town, he followed on the other side of the street, stopping whenever they stopped, making it clear they were being tailed.
The situation escalated when the group reached the usual point where they would split up, near the Orwell Hotel on High Road East. Although the man initially disappeared, he suddenly appeared again from behind a corner, startling the woman. “I screamed and ran back,” she recalled. The group quickly found a taxi and went home. Despite the encounter, the woman did not feel particularly scared at the time, as the route was one she commonly walked alone.
Two days later, Victoria Hall went missing after a night out in the same area. The woman and her friends reported the suspicious stalking to the police, believing the incidents might be linked. Victoria’s body was discovered five days after her disappearance in a ditch filled with water in Creeting St Peter, roughly 25 miles from where she was last seen. This harrowing discovery led the group to realize the man who had followed them was the same person connected to Victoria’s murder, a revelation that felt unsettling.
Years later, Suffolk Police reopened the investigation into Victoria’s death on the 20th anniversary of her disappearance. The woman reached out to authorities, hoping to assist but said she did not receive follow-up contact. Separate but related, another woman named Emily had been walking home from a Felixstowe nightclub on 18 September 1999 when a man tried to kidnap her. It remains unclear when police first received and acted on this information or when it was linked to Victoria’s case.
Reflecting on her experience, the woman suggested that Wright might have been observing people’s routines and behaviors, noting, “I think he was just looking at which way did people go home? Did they separate? He was getting a picture of people’s behaviour.” She added, “In the grand scheme of things, it was such a minor half an hour of my life that any other time you wouldn’t think anything of. We always thought it was him and it was the same person who took Vicky.”
Wright is due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey. Suffolk Police have confirmed they will not comment on the matter until after the sentencing concludes
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