The mother of a teenager murdered 27 years ago has died peacefully, just weeks before the serial killer accused of the crime is due to stand trial.
A Lifetime of Waiting for Answers
Lorinda Hall, 70, passed away at Ipswich Hospital in Suffolk on December 18, 2025. Her death came ahead of the trial of Steve Wright, who is charged with the kidnap and murder of her daughter, Victoria, in 1999. Lorinda never saw justice served for her child.
Victoria Hall was just 17 years old when she vanished after a night out at the Bandbox nightclub in Felixstowe, Suffolk, on September 18, 1999. She had walked home with a friend, Gemma Algar, and the pair parted ways at around 2.20am on September 19.
The Cold Case Breakthrough
Five days after she disappeared, Victoria's body was discovered in a water-filled ditch in Creeting St Peter, roughly 25 miles from Felixstowe near Stowmarket. The tragic discovery sparked a major police investigation and media appeals, but the case eventually went cold.
In 2024, following a cold case review, police charged Steve Wright, 67, with Victoria's kidnap and murder. Wright, who is already serving a whole-life term for the murders of five women in Ipswich in 2006, has pleaded not guilty to the charges relating to Victoria Hall.
His trial is scheduled to begin at the Old Bailey on February 2, 2026, and is expected to last for four weeks. Mr Justice Bennathan has ruled that the jury can be informed of Wright's previous convictions for the murders of Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls.
A Family's Enduring Grief
Lorinda Hall was laid to rest last week at Seven Hills Crematorium in Nacton, near Ipswich. A funeral notice described her as a "much loved" wife, mother and "Nanna" to her two grandchildren, who would be "greatly missed by all her family and friends".
In her memory, well-wishers have raised nearly £1,000 for East Anglia's Children's Hospices. The fundraising effort underscores the community's sympathy for a family that has endured nearly three decades of anguish without closure.
For 27 years, Victoria's parents, Lorinda and her husband Graham, campaigned and pleaded for information about their daughter's killer. The upcoming trial was a pivotal moment they had long awaited, a chance for answers that Lorinda, ultimately, did not live to see.
