SUFFOLK serial killer Steve Wright has been refused leave to appeal, it has been confirmed.

SUFFOLK serial killer Steve Wright has been refused leave to appeal, it has been confirmed.

Wright, of Ipswich, was sentenced to life in prison in February for the murders of five prostitutes in a killing spree which shocked the world and paralysed the town.

The bodies of Gemma Adams, 25; Tania Nicol, 19; Anneli Alderton, 24; Paula Clennell, 24; and Annette Nicholls, 29, were found dumped at remote locations around Ipswich over a ten-day period in December 2006.

In March the 50-year-old applied for permission to appeal, claiming he had an unfair trial and was wrongly advised by his defence team.

Today it was confirmed that Wright's first bid for an appeal has been rejected by Mr Justice Teare.

The Crown Prosecution Service, Suffolk Police and the Court of Appeal in London had been initially unable to confirm the report but Robert Sadd, from Suffolk CPS, said a letter had been sent to the court asking for notification of any decision.

He said: “I wasn't surprised we hadn't been notified because technically we aren't part of the proceedings but we have asked to be notified and once we hear we'd want to pass it on to the (victims') relatives.”

Confirmation was then received this afternoon that Mr Justice Teare had rejected the application for leave to appeal against the conviction and rejected the application for a legal aid order.

Now that the first application for leave to appeal has been rejected by the single judge, Wright has 14 days to ask for the application to be reviewed before the full court.

Wright was sentenced to a lifetime in prison following a six week trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

Passing sentence, Judge Mr Justice Gross said: “It is right you should spend your whole life in prison. This was a targeted campaign of murder.

“The five women were addicted to drugs that led them to prostitution in order to fund their addictions. Drugs and prostitution exposed them to risk, but neither killed them. You did.”

“You are responsible for their deaths.

"You killed them, stripped them and left them in rural or semi-rural locations.

"Why you did it may never be known but as the jury have concluded disbelieving your denials, murder them you did."

The trial had heard that two of the bodies were arranged with their arms outstretched in a crucifix pose.

Forensic analysis revealed Wright's DNA on three of the women and fibres linking him to all five.

Wright admitted frequenting prostitutes in Ipswich and having sex with four of the victims, though he insisted he did not kill them.

But the jurors accepted the prosecution case that he “systematically selected and murdered” the women - either asphyxiating them or compressing their necks - over a six-and-a-half-week “campaign of murder”.

The court heard that Wright, who had used prostitutes since the age of 25, stalked the red-light district near his home while his partner Pam Wright, 59, worked nights at a call centre.