STEVE Wright may not have been working alone when he murdered five prostitutes, a jury was told today.Wright, 49, of London Road, Ipswich, may have had the “assistance of another”, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

STEVE Wright may not have been working alone when he murdered five prostitutes, a jury was told today.

Wright, 49, of London Road, Ipswich, may have had the “assistance of another”, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

Wright denies murdering Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29.

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC told jurors that the women, who all worked as prostitutes in Ipswich, disappeared between late October and early December 2006.

Their bodies were found in isolated locations near Ipswich between December 2 and 12, 2006.

Mr Wright outlined the details of the disappearance of Miss Adams and Miss Nicol - the first two prostitutes to vanish and the first to be found dead.

He said the deaths of those two women were “inextricably linked”.

“We say the circumstances of their disappearance, the location at which their bodies were found, the condition of the bodies and the manner of their deaths will lead you to the conclusion that their deaths were, in fact, no coincidence,” he said.

“Rather the work of the defendant, either alone or with the assistance of another.”