The mother of a teenage girl passed away shortly before a serial killer is set to face trial for the alleged murder of her daughter. Lorinda Hall, aged 70, peacefully passed away at Ipswich Hospital on December 18 without seeing justice for her daughter Victoria, who went missing in 1999 after leaving a nightclub in Felixstowe, Suffolk. Victoria’s body was discovered five days later in a water-filled ditch near Stowmarket, 25 miles away.
The news of Lorinda’s death has brought attention, with her family waiting 27 years for closure. The accused serial killer, Steve Wright, 67, was charged with the kidnapping and murder of Victoria in 2024 following a cold case review by the police. He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to stand trial at the Old Bailey next month.
Lorinda was laid to rest at the Seven Hills Crematorium near Ipswich, where a funeral notice described her as a beloved wife, mother, and grandmother to her two grandchildren. Friends and family have raised nearly £1,000 for East Anglia’s Children’s in her memory.
Victoria left her home in Trimley St Mary in September 1999 to go to a nightclub in Felixstowe with her friend Gemma Algar. They parted ways around 2.20am, and tragically, Victoria’s body was found in a ditch in Creeting St Peter five days later, sparking a widespread search and media coverage.
Steve Wright, previously of London Road in Ipswich, denied involvement in Victoria’s abduction and murder. The jury in his upcoming trial will hear about his past convictions for the murders of five women. Wright is currently serving a life sentence for the killings of Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell, and Annette Nicholls in Ipswich in 2006.
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