THE mother of Suffolk Strangler suspect

THE mother of Suffolk Strangler suspect Steve Wright's secret child has told all about her four years at the side of the man accused of murdering five vice girls.

In an exclusive interview with the News of the World, his former partner Sarah Whitley told how she gave birth to Wright's daughter in 1992 but he:

SPLIT with them months later.

THREATENED to commit suicide. LOST his pub boss job through gambling and drinking.

HASN'T seen the child for eight years.

Sarah admitted she thought Wright was bluffing when he talked of killing himself a year after they split.

But just weeks ago, after he was charged with the Ipswich killings, she learned he DID try to end it all — TWICE.

"I'd no idea," said Sarah. "I thought it was an empty threat. In fact it made me angry. I thought he was just saying it to hurt me and I told him not to be so stupid."

Shop manager Sarah, who lives in south-east London with her daughter, started dating Wright in 1989 when she worked for him as a barmaid at the White Horse in Chislehurst.

"We hit it off right away," she told us. "Within six months I'd moved in with him over the pub."

Sarah said Wright, who already had three children and two failed marriages behind him, could be romantic.

"He liked cooking me dinner," she said. "And he was a kind, generous bloke, funny with it. There was talk of marriage but it just didn't happen. I can remember Steve getting the hump about things but I can't ever remember him getting violent. I was never afraid of him, never."

The couple moved to nearby Plumstead to run the Rose and Crown in 1990, and their daughter was born in 1992.

"Steve loved her to bits," said Sarah. "He was a loving father, no problem there at all."

But cracks began to appear in the relationship when Wright started gambling on the premises and drinking.

"Unfortunately he did like to gamble - and he wasn't very good at it," said Sarah.

"It was pub culture — cards, darts and pool. But there always had to be a bet. He didn't know when to stop. I didn't want that life.

"In the end it was Steve's fault he was sacked and we lost the pub, he wasn't running it properly.

"We had nowhere to go and it didn't seem Steve was too interested in looking after me and his seven-month-old baby. So we split up in 1993 and I moved in with friends."

A year later Wright sent Sarah a suicide note. "He said he missed his daughter, didn't want to be a part-time dad and had lost everything," she said. "But I didn't think he was the sort to kill himself."

It was Wright's dad Conrad. 70, who revealed his son DID try to gas himself in a car 12-years ago at the time of his note but cops saved him. And six years ago he was found overdosing on pills.

Sarah then recalled the last time Wright saw his daughter.

"She was six and Steve saw her in a school play," said Sarah. "Since then he hasn't sent a card, phoned or paid a penny towards bringing her up."

Sarah only learned her ex had been arrested through the papers. "When I told my daughter it was her dad police had charged she cried and cried."

3 WEEKS AFTER WE WED I GOT LETTER SAYING HE'D DIED

STRANGLER suspect Steve Wright has come back from the grave — says his Thai ‘widow'.

When 30-year-old Somchit Chomphusaeng was shown photographs of the accused she gasped: "Oh my God! That's my husband!" before fainting.

And she collapsed again when told WHY 48-year-old Wright is now in prison awaiting trial.

As she recovered from her shock in the Thai resort of Pattaya, Somchit said: "No! No! It must be his ghost. I was told he'd been murdered seven years ago.

"I got a letter that said it was from his mother, saying sorry but Steven had been stabbed to death in a taxi.

"This latest news is so difficult to believe.

Kissed

"Steve left here the day after our honeymoon. I took him to the airport, kissed goodbye and cried. I thought we were in love. Then ten days later came this letter. I cried and cried then went back home to my mother and father."

The pair met at the E & T bar in Pattaya in July, 1999, on a street packed with sex joints.

"I was a cashier," said Somchit. "I didn't go with customers. But Steve came in every night and made small talk.

"After a couple of days he asked me out at closing time. And it was like that for the rest of his nine-day holiday.

"He was a very polite man and we never made love.

"But he come back to Thailand in December and said, ‘Let's live together.' That night we made love. Probably not the best I've ever had.. but he asked me to marry him.

"We had our first wedding party at the bar on January 4 and a traditional ceremony blessed by monks at my parents' house on January 17.

"Steve paid my £2,000 dowry and £1,500 so my parents could rebuild their house. He also gave me £1,000 in gold.

"On our two-week honeymoon we made love every day. Then Steve had to fly back to England but said he'd come back when he'd saved up and could get me a visa into Britain.

"Now I hear he's accused of these murders I can't believe it."

HE BOUGHT ME EXPENSIVE LINGERIE

A BEAUTIFUL Thai girl has revealed how Strangler suspect Steve Wright couldn't resist splurging on pricey lingerie for her to wear for nights of passion.

Wisa Willshire, 28, confided to a pal: "Steve would buy me lots of expensive underwear from the malls and get me to wear it for him. But it would never stay on for very long because he'd immediately take it off again!"

Wisa told how she met Wright in a Pattaya bar in 1998 after he jetted east on a sex-fest after splitting with his barmaid partner Sarah Whitley.

"I was really just a good time for Steve," she said.

"But he was still charming and very generous to me. He delighted in buying me gifts of gold jewellery. He'd cover me in the stuff and promise eternal love.

"We just clicked from the minute we met and for three weeks we were inseparable.

"We did all the normal things that couples do — we went to bars and clubs at night and swam together during the day."

However, the relationship quickly fizzled out when Wright returned to the UK.

"He wrote me a few letters and sent a little money," said Wisa, who works as a nursing assistant at Pattaya Memorial Hospital. "But then it just stopped and I never heard from him again.

"I later heard he had returned to Thailand and found other girlfriends. I was shocked beyond belief when I heard that he'd been accused of such crimes."