RELATIVES of the red-light killings victims will face murder accused Steve Wright for the first time when he appears in court on tomorrow.Wright is due to appear at Ipswich Crown Court to enter a plea to the five murder charges he faces and The Evening Star has learned several members of the women's families are being prepared to attend.

RELATIVES of the red-light killings victims will face murder accused Steve Wright for the first time when he appears in court on tomorrow.

Wright is due to appear at Ipswich Crown Court to enter a plea to the five murder charges he faces and The Evening Star has learned several members of the women's families are being prepared to attend.

Jim Duell, the father of Tania Nicol, who at 19 was the youngest victim of the killings, has revealed he plans to attend the hearing and he will be accompanied by the police family liaison officers who have helped him since his daughter's death.

He said: “Me and my daughter Sarah (Tania's step-sister) will be attending the court hearing.

“I think we should be in court to represent Tania.”

He said he had been “encouraged” to attend the hearing but added that he felt strongly that Tania's family should be there to observe the proceedings.

“I think we should go. If we don't go and represent Tania it will be like she's gone now and no one cares anymore.

“We have to go and show she was a living person, a young girl, whose life has been taken. She's not just someone who has disappeared and is not worth anything.

“It's only things I'm going to read about later so I might as well go and hear it.

“I've attended everything concerning Tania - it's our duty as parents to be there to find out.”

And Mr Duell said he understood that relatives of some of the other victims, Gemma Adams, 25, Annette Nicholls, 29, Anneli Alderton, 24, and Paula Clennell, 24, would also be at the hearing.

“Some of the other families will be there,” he said.

As well as relatives of the killings victims, Wright's 70-year-old father, Conrad Wright, a former Port of Felixstowe police officer, is expected to attend court with a police family liaison officer.

Wright, 49, of London Road, Ipswich, is being held in London's high-security Belmarsh Prison. He is accused of murdering all five women between October 30 and December 12. The women had all worked as prostitutes in Ipswich's red-light district.

Tomorrow's hearing is expected to last for up to two hours and is expected to involve discussion about the possible venues for any forthcoming trial.

The case has attracted so much media interest it is anticipated that a second courtroom will be used and journalists will watch the events on television screens.