Serial killer Steve Wright attempted to kidnap Emily Doherty in September 1999 but the then 22-year-old managed to escape, although her cries for help were ignored by police
The only surviving victim of serial killer Steve Wright has claimed that other women he went on to murder may be alive today if police did not treat her like a “silly little girl”.
Emily Doherty, then 22, was targeted by the ruthless killer as she walked home from a nightclub in Felixstowe, Suffolk in September 1999. Wright, known as the ‘Suffolk Strangler’, attempted to kidnap Emily, but she sprinted away and hid in a nearby home, arming herself with a stick in a horrific 40-minute ordeal.
Wright went on to murder five women in and around Ipswich in December 2006, to which he is serving a whole-life term. On Monday the 67-year-old admitted attempting to kidnap Emily as well as the kidnap and murder of 17-year-old Victoria Hall at a hearing at the Old Bailey. Victoria, who had been at the Bandbox nightclub, was kidnapped and murdered one day after Emily’s escape, with her naked body found five days later in a ditch 25 miles (40km) away in Creeting St Peter.
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Now, in her first interview, Emily has claimed some of those murdered at the hands of Wright may be alive today if police had taken her claims seriously. She told Sky News that officers failed to follow it up with a full investigation, with the young woman at the time treated like a “silly little girl”.
“It’s devastating what happened to everyone else, absolutely devastating,” Emily said. “You can’t help thinking, if they had taken me seriously, Vicky could have survived, but certainly if they had found him sooner the five other women would still be here.”
A court hearing last June heard how Emily had left her friends near High Road East before coming across a parked car in Picketts Road, which had the driver’s door open and engine running. Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC told the court hearing, now reported by the BBC, that Emily saw Wright and initially thought he was urinating, but then became terrified by “the way he looked at her”. She ran, grabbed a stick and hid in a garden on her hands and knees.
“I got on all fours to peer around a wall to see if he was still there,” Emily told Sky News. “Suddenly he was literally right there. He stepped right into me. He said ‘alright’ in a low, sleazy way. In that instance, I knew my life was in danger. I just knew. The adrenaline kicked in. I started running up a driveway. I found a big stick and stood there, easily for 10 minutes. I thought if he does come up here, I will pound him with the stick.”
Emily reported the incident to police but they “didn’t believe me at all”. Despite recounting the details, giving officers part of the vehicle’s number plate and offering to make a statement, Emily was told to “forget about it”.
She said: “They said that won’t be necessary. Forget about it. I really felt like they did not take me seriously at all. They treated me like a silly little girl.”
The following day Emily left to go travelling in India but when she returned she was asked to call the police urgently as they investigated Victoria’s murder. “I’m suffering massively from survivor’s guilt… It’s a burden that I carry,” she added. “There’s the guilt of not being heard. It makes me feel sick with grief.”
Wright is due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey today for the kidnap and murder of Victoria, as well as the attempted kidnap of Emily.
