Murder in the Red Light

S01E03 Working in the sex work industry in the UK carries the greatest risk of violence and homicide for women. Murder in the Red Light (3 x 45’) takes a closer look into the decades of murder cases where killers have targeted vulnerable sex workers as potential victims, many of the murders remain unsolved. For many years these murders rarely hit the headlines and failed to be prioritised by the police. However in 2006, this changed forever when women in the British town of Ipswich in Suffolk, began to go missing. Over the course of two months, five women’s bodies were found, and unceremoniously dumped in remote rural areas. Their deaths struck fear into the heart of this close-knit community. While families mourned, it became clear the murders were committed by one man, Steven Wright who later became known as The Suffolk Strangler. The three episodes in the series explore the lives of the women themselves, the changing approach of policing these crimes before and after events in Ipswich, as well as examining the public and media response and considering the aftermath, the changes in societal and policing attitudes to sex workers and how many cases remain unsolved today.