Former pub landlord Steve Wright, of Ipswich, Suffolk, might not have been alone when he killed the women in late December 2006 before dumping their bodies in isolated spots, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Wright, who lived in the Ipswich red light district when the women died, denies murdering Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24 and Annette Nicholls, 29.

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC outlined evidence against Wright at the start of a trial expected to last at least six weeks.

He told jurors that the women vanished between late October and early December 2006. He said all worked as prostitutes in Ipswich and all were found in isolated locations near the town between December 2 and December 12 2006.

He said the bodies of Miss Alderton and Miss Nicholls had been left in similar positions, adding: "As with Anneli, (Annette's) body appeared deliberately to have been posed in a cruciform shape with her arms outstretched."

Mr Wright said: "It is the prosecution case that either alone or in conjunction with another or others, these deaths were the handiwork of the defendant and for a period of some six-and-a-half weeks he preyed upon women working as prostitutes in and around Ipswich, killing five before his campaign was brought to an end by his arrest."

Mr Wright told the court that all five victims had a drug problem and had resorted to prostitution to fund their addiction.

He said that decision was "ultimately to prove fatal" for all five. He added that the victims were thought to have been asphyxiated or strangled, and each was found totally naked.

Mr Wright also told the jury of nine men and three women that there were "striking similarities" in the circumstances of the deaths and that a number of links "point unerringly" to the defendant's responsibility.