Hush falls over courtroom

A DEADLY hush fell over the courtroom at the Vicky Hall murder trial as the jury heard a series of interviews and statements from the Suffolk businessman accused of killing her.

Adrian Bradshaw denied seeing anyone who looked like Vicky when he went to the Bandbox nightclub on September 18, 1999.

He said he had never been to Creeting St Peter – where the teenager's naked body was found dumped in a water-filled ditch five days after she went missing. And when arrested on suspicion of her murder he said "I don't know why you are doing that I have nothing to do with it, honestly".

Bradshaw, 27, of Felnor Walk, Felixstowe, has denied murdering Vicky sometime between the day she vanished, September 19, 1999, and five days later when her naked body was discovered in Creeting St Peter.

DC Andrew Pearle who interviewed Bradshaw on two occasions in October 1999 told the court that the defendant had no alibi for the night of Vicky's disappearance. He said that Bradshaw – who lived in the Wheelwrights, Trimley at the time – told him he came home alone on September 19, 1999 at 2.30am. In a later statement the court heard that Bradshaw had said he was unsure exactly where he had been dropped off that night but said it was usually directly opposite the driveway of the Wheelwrights or somewhere in Faulkeners Way.

The court also heard a statement by DC Samantha Shevlin who interviewed Bradshaw on November 26, 1999. He told her that he was born in Ipswich but moved to Trimley St Mary where he went to primary school.

He later went to Orwell High School and said that his natural parents had divorced and that he had three sisters. He said that when he left school he was interested in business and finance and went to Suffolk College in Ipswich in 1992, at the time he was living with his father at Trimley.

Between January and September, 1992 he went to a summer camp in America looking after children. He said that he went back to the US on two more occasions.

After college Bradshaw told the police officer that he went to Newcastle University and that later he started his own business producing a local newspaper called the Felixstowe Flyer.

He said that around the time of Vicky's disappearance he often went to the Bandbox nightclub. "I was going there regularly, the manager was a customer of mine and he used to advertise in the local flyer so I got in the Bandbox free of charge."

On Saturday, September 18, 1999 he said he went out between 8.00 and 8.30pm with his friend Peter Dugdale. Bradshaw said he was drinking bitter and that the pair went to a number of pubs before arriving at the Bandbox.

"I was still drinking but I can handle my drink. I think we had Vodka and Redbull at the Bandbox. I didn't see anyone that looked like Vicky that night and we left the club about 2.00am", Bradshaw said.

In a later interview on May 11, 2000 Bradshaw said that the night at the Bandbox had been no different to any other. He said that he and his friend "Were just enjoying ourselves. We were having a few drinks and just having a laugh. There were no drugs involved I'm not a binge drinker or anything," he said.

The court heard that according to Bradshaw's memory he got a cab home with two girls and his friend, they stopped for a kebab, went home and went to bed alone.

Today's evidence came after James Armour told the court how he had found Vicky's body while walking his dogs a week after her disappearance.

The court had also heard from Trimley resident Holly Ceney who told the court about hearing high-pitched screams.

And Michael Watts also told the jury about the screams he heard on the night that Vicky disappeared.

The trial continues.