21 December 2006

EXCLUSIVE: MY HELL AS WIFE OF RIPPER SUSPECT

By Jeremy Armstrong
THE ex-wife of Ipswich Ripper suspect Steve Wright told yesterday of their nightmare marriage.

Diane Cole, 52, described the relationship as a "total disaster" - and revealed that he was cheating
on her within two months.

But she says she was stunned when she learned he had been arrested over the murder of five
prostitutes.

And now she fears that her former links with Wright could come back to haunt her and jeopardise her
hopes of happiness with the new man in her life. Diane met Wright while they were both working on
the QEII 20 years ago.

He was a dapper steward on the luxury cruise liner and she was a window dresser for one of the
onboard shops.

They wed after a whirlwind romance and Diane gave up her job to start a new life with him running a
pub in the heart of the Norwich red light district.

But in months he became involved with another woman, an affair which ended the marriage and left
Diane homeless.

She returned to her hometown, Hartlepool, Cleveland, and had no further contact with Wright.

The first she knew of the arrest was when her brother Tommy rang her at her home late on Tuesday
night.

Diane, who lost her legs to meningitis in 1997 and also overcame cancer four years ago, said: "He
called because someone had been in touch to tell him.

"I was gobsmacked. I still can't believe it." She admitted the marriage was short-lived and miserable.
They went through with the ceremony so that they could run the Ferry Boat Inn in the heart of
Norwich's red light district.

By chance the pub was a regular haunt of two prostitutes - Natalie Pearman, 16, and Michelle
Bettles, 22 - whose murders remain unsolved.

Wright was not running the pub at the time of their deaths.

After her husband's affair Diane was forced to move out of the pub. "It was a nightmare," she
recalled.

"I lived in bedsits and then had to stay with friends. It was an awful time, a time which I would rather
forget. I thought I had put it all behind me.

"I had absolutely no contact with him after the marriage, none at all. Once we split, that was it."
Neighbours next to Wright's flat in Ipswich suggested he had a stormy relationship with his current
partner, Pamela Goodman, 48, with complaints about their rows.

Diane, who is in a wheelchair after she stopped using her artificial legs, would not be drawn on his
behaviour towards her. She said: "Let's just say that it is understandable that his last relationship was
tempestuous.

"That does not surprise me. My time with him is part of my past which I would rather forget."

Diane currently has a new boyfriend - a 49-year-old engineer called Bill. She did not want to give his
surname.

She added: "He's my priority now. He works away and I still have to tell him about all this.

"After all the hell I have been through in my life, he has given me happiness. I won't do anything to
jeopardise that."