Wrong man arrested in 2000published at 09:24 GMT
09:24 GMT
Alice Cunningham
Reporting from the Old Bailey
After Victoria Hall’s killing, Suffolk Police arrested Felixstowe businessman Adrian Bradshaw with her murder in December 2000.
The 26-year-old was from Victoria’s home village of Trimley St Mary and was living in Felixstowe.
He went on to be charged, denied the offence, and went on trial at Norwich Crown Court in 2001.
The jury was told he had been at the Bandbox nightclub the same night Victoria disappeared, and the prosecution argued soil in his car then matched soil at the spot where her body was found.
However, Bradshaw said he did not see Victoria that night and geology experts for the defence said it was unlikely the soil came from the ditch where Victoria was found.
It took the jury just 90 minutes to find him not guilty.
Afterwards, Det Supt Roy Lambert, who led the case, defended his team’s investigation telling reporters he was “very disappointed”.
The case went cold until Steve Wright was charged in 2024.