Senior detective who didn’t convey Suffolk Strangler Steve Wright to justice over Vicky Hall homicide speaks for first time for the reason that case – however didn’t settle for any duty for the unique botched investigation

The senior detective who failed to bring Steve Wright to justice over the 1999 murder of teenager Vicky Hall today spoke for the first time since the serial killer was jailed for her death – but didn’t accept any responsibility for the botched investigation.

The comments were made as Suffolk Constabulary admitted for the first time that there were aspects of the case that could have been ‘more prominent’ in the minds of detectives. 

Retired detective superintendent Roy Lambert headed the team that made a series of blunders which allowed Wright to remain at large for another seven years before he killed five prostitutes in Ipswich.

Mistakes included the serial killer’s only surviving victim, Emily Doherty, informing police about an attempted abduction – and even giving a partial car number plate to officers – but being dismissed as a ‘silly little girl’.

Just 24 hours later, Wright would snatch Vicky as she walked home from the same nightclub Ms Doherty had attended the previous evening.

Wright, 67, was finally jailed for life with a minimum 40-year term on Friday after admitting Vicky’s murder following a cold case review that used modern DNA techniques to link him to the crime.

The sentencing judge asked if Suffolk Constabulary would hold an inquiry into ‘what went wrong’ but the force has refused to commit to one – despite detectives now admitting other women may have fallen victim to the ‘Suffolk Strangler’.

Mr Lambert, 74, told the Mail he was ‘pleased’ with the conviction, saying Vicky’s family had ‘finally been given some answers to who was responsible for her murder’.

The conclusion of the case ‘shows the importance of cold case reviews and exploiting advances in technology’ and was a ‘credit to Suffolk Constabulary’, he added.

Mr Lambert continued: ‘These cases never leave you. I’m delighted with the outcome.’

But he refused to be drawn on whether lessons had been learned as a result of the failed investigation 27 years ago or if he thought it had allowed Wright to kill any other women between 1999 and 2006.

‘You need to talk to Suffolk Constabulary,’ he said.

But in comments made by assistant chief constable Alice Scott, the force made a tacit admission that potentially vital clues may have been missed in 1999.

Referring to newlywed Ms Doherty’s near-miss with the killer, she said: ‘The line of enquiry around the attempted kidnap could have been more prominent in the original investigation.’

There was now ‘more technology, while officers Continuing Professional Development [the process of ongoing training] had improved, she added, while violent offences towards females was a priority for the force.

‘Constabularies are really committed to dealing with violence towards women and girls,’ Ms Scott said. 

However, she insisted she couldn’t ‘say retrospectively whether that material [from the original investigation] could have gone on to prevent five women in Ipswich being murdered’.

Wright’s ex-wife, Diane Cole, criticised Mr Lambert and the force, saying ‘lives could have been saved’ by a more thorough investigation.

She said: ‘They should have looked at the evidence… there are so many unanswered questions.

‘It’s terrible. Lives could have been saved.’ 

Jim Duell, the father of Ipswich victim Tania Nicol, suggested an independent inquiry should look into the failings in the 1999 incidents.

‘If they [Suffolk Constabulary] made a mistake, then you could say they’re going to be quiet about it,’ he said.

‘If they’d caught him then, things could have been different.’

Vicky was 17 when she went missing on the walk home to Trimley St Mary from the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe on September 19, 1999.

She and her friend, Gemma Algar, walked around two miles together at 1am, stopping at a takeaway along the way, before parting company at 2.20am when they were just 200 yards from Vicky’s front door.

Her naked body was found 20 miles away in a water-filled ditch at Creeting St Peter five days later.

Police potentially had the opportunity to arrest Wright before he targeted Vicky but failed to act over Ms Doherty’s attempted abduction.

During last week’s Old Bailey hearing into the teenager’s death, the court was told that she had provided an accurate description of Wright, his car and number plate after he stalked her.

But misogynistic officers didn’t believe her, failed to make any notes or to log the crime and told the then 22-year-old to ‘forget all about it’. A formal statement was only taken two years later.

Miss Doherty, who had to hammer on a stranger’s door to ask for help as the serial killer hunted her, said in a victim impact statement: ‘To this day, I am furious. I wasn’t taken seriously. I was made to feel like a silly little girl.’

She added: ‘For 25 years, I have wondered “What if?” What if they had taken my statement – could Victoria be alive right now?’

Wright’s details were removed from a list of suspects for Vicky’s death in 2000, a month after police arrested a local businessman for her murder.

Mr Lambert – at the time the force’s most experienced senior investigating officer – directed there be ‘no further action’ and said the incident involving Ms Doherty didn’t ‘accord’ with the murder.

The £2 million prosecution of the innocent suspect ended with him being acquitted in 2001 after a jury heard soil evidence that detectives claimed tied him to the scene was common throughout East Anglia.

Meanwhile, Wright had sold the car used in both attacks, left work and moved to Thailand for a time.

After his return, he would go on to murder Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24 – whose death was also investigated by Mr Lambert – Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29, over a terrifying six-week period as he stalked Ipswich’s red light area.

He was given a whole life term in 2008 for those murders, with Suffolk Police continuing to tell Vicky’s family he was not responsible for her rape and murder.

It wasn’t until the cold case review began in 2020 that Wright was declared a suspect for the first time. He was charged in 2024 on the basis of the new DNA evidence.

The Hall family have not criticised the force, although her father, Graham, said after the sentencing on Friday that they had ‘endured 26 years of hell’.

Vicky’s mother, Lorinda, never got to see her killer jailed for the offence as she passed away in hospital last month.

Mr Lambert, who still lives in Suffolk, had been heading the investigation into the death of Anneli Alderton when he retired from the force in 2007 after 39 years’ service.

He remained with Suffolk Constabulary in a civilian position while Operation Sumac – the probe into the five prostitutes’ deaths – was completed.

Mr Lambert joined the force as a cadet from school in 1968 and during his time there he was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct.

This followed an incident in 1981 when the then detective sergeant and a colleague were shot at by a criminal armed with a sawn-off shotgun.

Suffolk Police issued a statement after Wright’s latest sentencing which congratulated investigating officers but made no reference to the errors that led to six women being murdered and the wrongful prosecution of an innocent man. 

Referring to Ms Doherty’s complaint, they said: ‘The Constabulary is very sorry that the victim was disappointed by the initial response.’