The Suffolk Strangler Murders: Paula Clennell
Paula Lucille Clennell was a 24-year-old British woman from Northumberland who was living in Ipswich. Paula's parents had separated when she was 14-years-old; her mother moved the family to Norwich, cutting all contact with Paula's father. She spent some of her childhood in a referral unit, it was shortly after being placed there that she began taking drugs. When Paula was 16 she was living with a man with who she would have three children, all of who were taken into care. Paula soon turned to drugs and shoplifting. Paula's mother said Paula had been depressed after the birth of her first child which contributed to her drugs problem, she said "All she ever wanted was to be looking after her children, but heroin destroyed her life," adding that when social services took away Paula's children, Paula had given up and lost hope turning to heroin and working as a sex worker on the streets. In the weeks leading up to her death, Paula had told her sister, Alice, that she was 'terrified' of working on the streets but needed the money to get a permanent address and to get her children back. On 5th December, Paula gave an interview to a local news reporter in which she said the two earlier murders had made her 'wary' but that she would continue to work on the streets as she 'needed the money.' Exactly one week later on 12th December Paula's body was found. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be asphyxiation or compression of the throat. Her naked body was found near a roadside by a member of the public. Paula was confirmed to have been murdered by Steve Wright, also known as the Suffolk Strangler. Wright killed five young women in Ipswich and is currently serving a life sentence for the murders.
