The only surviving victim of "Suffolk Strangler" Steve Wright says if police had taken her story seriously then at least six women he went on to murder may still be alive today. The serial killer attempted to kidnap Emily Doherty in the Suffolk town of Felixstowe in 1999 but she managed to escape his clutches after he chased her through the dead of night.
Wright went on to murder five women in the Ipswich area in 2006 and this week pleaded guilty to murdering 17-year-old Victoria Hall, also in 1999, as well as trying to abduct Emily. Emily has now revealed her "real life horror story" of how she had to repeatedly flee from him as he pursued her home from a nightclub. But she says when she dialled 999 Suffolk Police treated her like "a silly little girl", and failed to follow it up with a full investigation even after Victoria Hall's body was later found.
"It's devastating what happened to everyone else, absolutely devastating," Emily told Sky News.
"You can't help thinking, if they had taken me seriously, Vicky could have survived, but certainly if they had found him sooner the five other women would still be here."
Emily, then 22 years old when, walked home from the Bandbox nightclub with a friend, before they separated just 200 yards from Emily's home.
She said: "There was this car going backwards and forwards past me, loitering. It parked up, and I thought the driver was having a wee.
"He was just standing by the car. He saw me and I saw him. The car door was open, and the engine was running.
"I ran and jumped over a wall and knocked on someone's door and said 'let me in'. No one answered."
As she attempted to get away, Wright followed in his car, forcing Emily to drop to all fours and hide behind a wall. As she peered round to see if he was still there she was confronted by Wright.
"He stepped right into me. He said 'alright' in a low, sleazy way. In that instance, I knew my life was in danger. I just knew. The adrenaline kicked in.
"I started running up a driveway. I found a big stick and stood there, easily for 10 minutes. I thought if he does come up here, I will pound him with the stick."
She said she could still hear the car moving backwards and forwards, but it fell silent so she thought she was safe.
She went back to the road to continue her journey, but he was still there, leaving her with no choice but to flee again, knocking on more doors until finally someone answered.
She added: "He was in the car laughing at me.
"A couple eventually let me in. I said: 'please let me in, I'm being followed'. They called 999. It went on for about 40 minutes."
But Emily says when police eventually arrived they didn't believe her "at all."
"They said 'come on, how much have you had to drink tonight?'" In fact, she'd been drinking soda water after only two beers earlier in the pub.
She added: "I had to ask them for a lift home. I got in the car with the police, and they said: 'I suppose you should tell us what happened then'."
She said she gave them part of the number plate she remembered and offered to make a statement later that day, but they were dismissive.
"They said that won't be necessary. Forget about it. I really felt like they did not take me seriously at all.
"They treated me like a silly little girl."
The next day, Emily left to go travelling in India.
When she called home, there was a message urging her to call the police urgently. The manhunt was under way for Victoria Hall's killer.
Her body was found 25 miles away, five days after she disappeared on her way back from the same club Emily had been at.
Over the phone from the Himalayas, she gave a statement describing what had happened. She told Sky News the police mentioned sending two officers to produce an e-fit image of the suspect, but it didn't happen.
"That was the last I heard ever about it," she said.
Emily was living overseas when Wright went on his killing spree in 2006 and didn't see a picture of him until Victoria's case was reopened.
She said: "I'm suffering massively from survivor's guilt... It's a burden that I carry. There's the guilt of not being heard. It makes me feel sick with grief."
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