Ispwich prostitutes scared, but will work on

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) Prostitutes working in Ipswich are living in fear but will continue to ply their trade despite fears of a sex attacker on the loose after three sex workers were found dead in the town in the last week.

Niki Adams, of the English Collective of Prostitutes, said women in the sex trade had no option but to stay on the streets.

''Women have said they are very scared at the prospect there may be someone committed to violence and even murder operating in the area,'' Adams told Reuters.

''But on the other hand, most women don't have the option to give up prostitution especially this close to Christmas.'' On Friday, police divers found the body of Tania Nicol, 19, near Copdock Mill, less than a week after the body of 25-year-old Gemma Adams was found two miles away in the same stretch of water.

Nicol had gone missing on October 30 while Adams vanished on November 15. Officers said both women, who were found naked, were sex workers in Ipswich.

Another woman's body was discovered on Sunday in Nacton on the other side of town and media reports said the unnamed victim was also a prostitute.

Detectives have not yet linked the latest death to the other two murders but the discovery has prompted concerns a serial attacker could be on the loose.

Adams said that about 70 per cent of prostitutes were mothers and were working to support their families.

''The idea that women can get off the streets, like the government has sometimes claimed, is really not a realistic prospect,'' she said.

CALL FOR ''AMNESTY'' She said their group, which police contacted last week, had urged detectives to hold an ''amnesty'' for prostitutes and their clients until the killer was captured.

Removing the threat of arrest would help persuade nervous people who might have useful information come forward to police.

She cited a recent case in London when a woman with an outstanding warrant went to police with information about a dangerous offender and was then promptly arrested.

''We cannot afford for that to happen at this moment,'' she said. ''The police (should) make it clear that their first priority is women's safety.

''If they reassure people that they will not be arrested or criminalised ... while this man is operating, then women would come forward but at the moment women don't feel able to because they feel under siege.'' The starkest example of this lack of cooperation came during the hunt for ''Yorkshire Ripper'' Peter Sutcliffe who murdered 13 women between 1975 and 1980.

Marcella Claxton, who survived an attack by Sutcliffe, gave police information which they ignored, Adams said.

''Women's experience of the police has not fundamentally changed since that time,'' she said.

The recent introduction of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) against prostitutes in the town might have forced women into darker and more isolated areas, she added.

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