Life likely to mean life for Wright

A judge said Wright - convicted of murdering five prostitutes by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court - should be never be eligible for parole.

Victims' relatives - and Wright's father Conrad - said he should have been executed.

Onlookers shouted "scum" as a prison van took Wright from the court to Belmarsh prison in south-east London. Legal sources said the former merchant seaman, who lived in Ipswich, Suffolk, would be placed on suicide watch.

Mr Justice Gross said the case met the legal requirements for a "whole life term" because the killings involved pre-meditation and planning.

"Drugs and prostitution meant they were at risk. But neither drugs nor prostitution killed them. You did," said the judge. "Why you did it may never be known."

Following the conviction, Suffolk Police confirmed that officers from the Metropolitan Police had asked to see evidence against Wright to probe any links with the disappearance of missing estate agent Suzy Lamplugh.

Miss Lamplugh, 25, disappeared in 1986 after leaving her offices in Fulham, west London. Her body has never been found but she was officially declared dead in 1994. She and Wright worked on the QE2 in the 1980s. Wright was a steward and Miss Lamplugh a beautician.

A jury took less than eight hours to find Wright guilty of killing Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29.

Wright, 49, a former steward on the QE2, admitted picking up the women for sex on the nights they vanished but denied any involvement in their deaths.