IPSWICH - The trial of a former forklift truck driver accused of murdering five women in Ipswich during an unprecedented killing spree was told on Wednesday their decision to turn to prostitution to fund their drug habits had proved fatal.

Steve Wright, 49, is accused of killing Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls, whose naked bodies were found dumped at rural locations around the town.

"During a period of six weeks from late October to early December 2006, five women went missing in and around the town of Ipswich. It is the Crown's case that each of them was murdered by this man," said prosecution counsel Peter Wright.

"In the 10 days that elapsed from the 2nd to the 12th of December 2006 their bodies began to turn up."

The pace at which the bodies were discovered was said by the local police chief at the time to be unrivalled in British criminal history.

The trial at Ipswich Crown Court, expected to last up to eight weeks, is set to be one of the most high-profile cases of recent years.

"At the time of their deaths each of these women had a drug problem. Each of them had resorted to prostitution to fund their addiction," said prosecutor Wright.

"In each of their cases this decision was ultimately to prove fatal."