Stephen Wright has now made his appearance in court, the arguments lasted three hours, and the upshot is that Wright denies all five charges, formally entering "Not Guilty" pleas to all of them.

The trial will not be removed from Ipswich, as most people expected. That was probably the subject which took up a good part of the three hours' argument, but we are not allowed to know due to reporting restrictions.

Wright and his defense team must feel that they have a chance of beating this case. By now, they should have been presented with virtually all that the Crown has, and the Crown must have substantially performed, otherwise the defense would have refused to enter a plea.

DNA will probably figure large. If the police found Wright's DNA on the bodies of the victims, the defense likely feel that they can explain it away by claiming that Wright was indeed a frequent customer of these five girls. Hence, his DNA. Hence, his car seen by CCTV leaving the area, with the unfortunate girls on board. That, I'm guessing, will be the crux of the case, but I'm only guessing because of these damned reporting restrictions!!!

Trial is to begin January 14, 2008, and expected to last six to eight weeks.