The man accused of murdering five women in Suffolk preyed on prostitutes and "systematically selected" his victims, Ipswich Crown Court has heard.
The bodies of two of five murdered women were placed in a crucifix pose, a jury at Ipswich Crown Court has heard.
Steve Wright, 49, who denies five counts of murder, was the "common denominator" in the deaths of the women during six weeks in 2006, a jury heard.
The bodies had their arms outstretched and were among a number of "striking" similarities in the victims' deaths.
There were "striking" similarities between the victims who all worked as prostitutes to fund drug habits.
All five worked as prostitutes to fund drug habits, were found naked and appeared to have been strangled or asphyxiated by one or more killers.
The court heard two of the bodies were placed with their arms outstretched.
Steve Wright, 49, who denies five counts of murder, was the "common denominator", the jury was told.
Two other bodies were found in the same brook.
All five victims were found naked and appeared to have been strangled, the jury heard.
Tania Nicol, 19, Gemma Adams, 25, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and 29-year-old Annette Nicholls went missing during six weeks in 2006.
Tania Nicol, 19, Gemma Adams, 25, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and 29-year-old Annette Nicholls went missing during six weeks in 2006.
Accused 'used prostitutes'
The court heard the victims were "systematically selected and murdered".
The killer may have had an accomplice, the jury was also told.
Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said the decisions by the women to turn to prostitution "was ultimately to prove fatal".
"In the 10 days that elapsed from 2 December to 12 2006, their bodies began to turn up," he said.
He told the jury that Mr Wright was a user of prostitutes in Ipswich and had transport to both pick them up and dispose of their bodies.
The women were all found dead on the outskirts of Ipswich
The women were also at ease in his company and unsuspicious of his motives, even when the bodies of other prostitutes began to turn up, the court heard.
All five victims were of slight build and weighed no more than 9st (57kg).
Mr Wright said that in their drug-intoxicated state, none would have been a match for their assailant or assailants.
The naked bodies of two of the victims - Miss Alderton and Miss Nicholls - had been left with arms outstretched in a "cruciform shape", the jury was told.
Miss Alderton's body was found in woodland near Nacton on 10 December while Miss Nicholls' body was found near Nacton two days later.
Mr Wright said of Miss Alderton: "In all likelihood she had been murdered elsewhere and her body abandoned and her body left posed in this isolated spot."
Bodies in brook
Evidence showed Miss Nicholls had been murdered and her body abandoned shortly after she was last seen alive on 8 December, the court heard.
The prosecutor earlier said Miss Nicol and Miss Adams were the first to go missing.
He told the jury the circumstances of their disappearances and deaths showed they were "the work of the defendant, either alone or with the assistance of another".
Miss Nicol's naked body was found in a stretch of water known as Belstead Brook on 8 December.
She was last seen on 30 October "in an area of Ipswich often frequented by prostitutes and their clients" said the prosecutor.
Miss Adams was last seen on the evening of 14 November 2006 or early the next day.
Her naked body was the first to be found, on 2 December, in the same brook further upstream towards Hintlesham.
Steve Wright, of Ipswich, was charged with the murder of all five women on 21 December 2006.
A new jury is hearing the case after the first jury was discharged when one member reported health problems.
