Man appears in court charged with 1999 kidnapping and murder of teenage girl

Steve Wright, 66, rested his arms on a table as he appeared at Ipswich Magistrates' Court via video link from police custody.

He is accused of murdering the teenager, whose body was found in a ditch five days after she was last seen alive.

Victoria, from Trimley St Mary in Suffolk, had left her home on the evening of September 18, 1999 for a night out with a friend at Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe.

The girls left the club around 1 a.m. the next morning and went their separate ways around 2:20 a.m.

This was the last time Victoria was seen alive.

Her parents, Lorinda and Graham Hall, woke up in the morning to find their daughter had not returned home and a missing persons investigation was launched.

On September 24, her body was found in Creeting St Peter, around 25 miles from where she was last seen.

The defendant, who has short gray hair and was wearing a gray T-shirt, gave his name in court as Steve Gerald James Wright.

He also stated his date of birth during the hearing, which lasted less than five minutes, and confirmed that he could hear the proceedings and was not recording them.

The court heard that Wright, formerly of London Road, Ipswich, is accused of kidnapping Victoria in Felixstowe on September 19, 1999 and murdering her in Stowupland on the same day.

He is also accused of the attempted kidnapping of Emily Doherty in Felixstowe on September 18, according to the charges read out in court.

Suffolk Police said a 22-year-old woman reported a man approached and followed her between 3am and 4am on September 18, 1999 in High Road East, Felixstowe.

Wright was not asked to enter a plea to any of the three charges.

He has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Ipswich Crown Court for a preliminary hearing later on Monday.