STEVE Wright, the Ipswich serial killer, will spend the rest of his life in jail for murdering five women in Suffolk.
Wright killed prostitutes Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls before dumping their bodies.
Mr Justice Gross, sitting at Ipswich Crown Court, ordered Wright, 49, to serve the maximum sentence.
He said
: "This was a targeted campaign of murder. It is right you should spend your whole life in prison."
The judge said of the victims: "Drugs and prostitution meant they were at risk. But neither drugs nor prostitution killed them. You did."
Wright said during the trial that he had had sex with four of the five women, but denied killing them.
The naked bodies of the women, aged between 19 and 29, were found over a ten-day period in December 2006.
Wright's defence team said they would be considering whether there were grounds for an appeal, but stressed this was routine in all criminal cases.
Wright is one of a handful of prisoners whose crimes were so heinous that they have been told they must spend the rest of their lives in jail.
According to Ministry of Justice figures, his sentence yesterday means there are now 36 living prisoners for whom life will mean life.
These include Moors Murderer Ian Brady and murderer and robber Donald Neilson, nicknamed the "Black Panther", who shot and killed three sub-postmasters, and murdered teenage heiress Lesley Whittle.
Wright was due to be taken from Ipswich to Belmarsh Prison in south-east London. He is expected to be placed on suicide watch and to undergo routine psychiatric assessments.
Meanwhile, Suffolk Police confirmed that detectives in the Wright case have been approached by Scotland Yard in connection with the disappearance of the estate agent Suzy Lamplugh 22 years ago.
But the force stressed it was a "routine" approach and repeated that it was unaware of any evidence directly linking Wright to any other crimes.
Miss Lamplugh, 25, vanished in July 1986 after leaving her offices in Fulham, west London, to show a house to a man. Her body has never been found, but she was officially declared dead in 1994.
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The full article contains 403 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
