Ipswich (England): A 48-year-old man arrived in court in England on Friday to face charges that he murdered five prostitutes.
Former forklift truck driver Steve Wright was driven to the court in Ipswich in a police van, which was escorted to the building by motorcycle escorts.
Dozens of photographers were gathered behind crowd control barriers, trying to get pictures of Wright, who is charged with the murders of Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29.
He was charged on Thursday night after being arrested at his home near Ipswich's red light district on Tuesday morning.
A second suspect, identified locally as Tom Stephens, 37, was released on bail. Police did not say whether he remained a suspect and gave no details on when he would be required to return to a police station for further questioning.
Prosecutor Michael Crimp said there was ''sufficient evidence'' to charge Wright with the murders.
Police arrested Wright at on Tuesday morning at his Ipswich home, said Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull. His arrest came a day after police arrested Stephens, also on suspicion of murdering the five women.
The bodies of five women were discovered outside Ipswich in Suffolk county in a period of 10 days.
A coroner has opened and adjourned inquests into the deaths. He appealed for anyone with information about the murders to contact the police.
Forensic officers and search teams have been searching homes of both suspects and police cordoned off part of a road where Wright lives.
The short time span of the murders is unprecedented in recent British history and threatened to overwhelm the small local police force in the early days of the inquiry.
The suspected serial killer reminded Britons of the so-called Yorkshire Ripper who killed 13 women over five years in the 1970s. That killing spree prompted comparisons to Jack the Ripper, the notorious Victorian serial killer who murdered at least five East London prostitutes in 1888.
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