Who Killed Tania Nicol

New evidence that changes the whole case

Tania Nicol was just 19 Years old when she was abducted and murdered on the streets of Ipswich, Suffolk in 2006.

She left her home which she shared with her mum, Kerry and 15-year-old brother, Aaron on the evening of 30th October 2006 and her lifeless body found several days later in a babbling stream at Belside Brook on December 8th 2006.

Tania was to become one of five young women murder victims who were addicted to drugs and feeding their habits by working the red light district of Ipswich as sex workers. The tragic thing in the case of Tania is that her parents had no idea what she was doing.

The story of Tania’s disappearance is a little odd and very much appears that evidence related to it may have been manipulated. I will come to that shortly.

Tania is reported to have been happy girl who was really lovely to be around. She was friendly and always enjoyed a laugh, yet her life was literally snuffed out like a candle flame in the fateful hours after she left the safety of her family home.

Tania was originally reported to have last been sighted shortly after 11pm on October 30th 2006 in the company of a a man believed to be a well known kerb crawler, Steve Wright and in fact that is the evidence originally given to the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service). It is claimed that she was seen in Handford Road Ipswich possibly getting into a dark blue Ford Mondeo car which was believed to be owned by Wright. She had been captured on CCTV just moments before passing the Sainsbury’s supermarket

However we have discovered that actually she was seen at least three times after this without Mr Wright, so this opens up whole new bunch of questions as to “What happened to Tania and who was truly responsible for her death”?

The 19-year-old was seen alone by a cashier, Kerry Lands at Sainsburys petrol station sometime after 11.30pm where she purchased a chocolate bar and then again by a personal friend, Paula Clennell who was later to become the last victim of the so called “Suffolk strangler”. That sighting was at 1am.

There was a further sighting by a post woman Helen Brooks at around 3.40am on 31st October 2006. On that occasion Tania was once again alone and talking into a mobile telephone in the red light district in Ipswich. She was alive and obviously able to use a phone at that time.

This therefore makes it somewhat questionable how she could have been abducted and murdered by Steve Wright. Helen Brooks said that she was able to confirm that the woman she saw was Tania Nicol as she had seen her several times before.

Now the other intriguing point here is that according to police evidence submitted to the courts Tania’s phone signal had died long before that time. There are of course two presumptions on this, She had a dual sim phone and was using the alternative sim card or more likely she had a second phone for clients that she only switched on when she was out. This would explain why her family had no idea that she was a sex worker.

The facts

There is not much absolute evidence in this murder case but the details presented to the court were that she was seen on some pretty hazy CCTV getting into what appeared to be a dark blue Ford Mondeo similar to the one driven by Steve Wright.

The vehicle picked her up at around 11.15pm and Wright admits to picking her up but only driving her just a few minutes from the corner of Handford Road & Burlington Road. Wright says that he drove along Handford Road and turned right into Portman Road before changing his mind and stopping the car to release Tania.

Wright said that he did not want to pay for her to have sex with her and despite her pleading with him as she needed money for drugs he refused and Tania walked back alone. She walked back up Portman Road back to the corner of Handford Road/London Road corner to look for more business.

We know that Tania then walked about 100 metres to the Sainsburys garage to buy a chocolate bar, probably to cheer herself up. There was no sign of Steve Wright.

In both of the other two sightings there was once again no sign of Wright and he was last seen on CCTV leaving the Ipswich area at 1.39am so as Tania was seen alive and well at 3.40am this really muddies the waters.

The team at Lolly True Crime are examining the Suffolk strangler case in detail and we plan to bring you a detailed blog on each killing with an overview of the whole case afterwards.

If you would like to come forward with thoughts or information I would love to hear from you