PROSTITUTES working in the North-East are being issued with panic alarms in the wake of the Suffolk serial killer claiming a fifth victim.

The move comes as the mother of murdered Teesside prostitute Vicky Glass spoke of her fears that the Ipswich killer could be responsible for her daughter's death.

In an attempt to improve safety for the girls working in and around the Middlesbrough and Stockton areas, Cleveland Police will announce today that they are handing out hundreds of alarms.

Superintendent Steve Swales, Middlesbrough District Commander, said: "We have been running Operation Streetwise since November, but the focus of our activities has changed significantly in the last week.

"The primary aim of the current operation was enforcement. However, events in Ipswich caused us to rethink that over the last weekend, and our priority at this time is to educate and engage the vice girls in staying safe and looking out for each other.

"We have been seeking out the known street prostitutes and giving them basic personal safety advice and support. It is nothing new - but we felt it timely to remind them."

There will also be extra patrols operating in the vice hotspots around the force area, with efforts being made to engage the vice girls with drug counsellors and other support workers in a bid to get them off the streets.

Supt Swales added: "This does not mean we are not tackling the punters.

"In fact, with our change of priority on the girls, it will mean we have more time and energy to focus on the kerb crawlers.

"They have been warned."

Last night, Debbie Goodall, Vicky Glass' mother, said the discovery of five prostitutes' bodies in Suffolk had reopened emotional wounds and said her heart went out to the families of the victims.

She said: "The news of the killings in Ipswich came as a shock and it made me feel sick to my stomach. I cried as I watched the news and kept thinking of Vicky.

"It brought everything back to me, because everything is so similar to the way Vicky was found.

"Vicky's death haunts me every day. You gain an inner strength to go on, but I think about her every day - and I will do until I die.

"As I watched I thought: 'Is the same person who killed Vicky responsible? Could he have moved? Is he travelling from one area to another?'

"I know how the families of those girls are feeling now and my heart goes out to them. I'm thinking of them and I just hope they get strength to carry on."

Vicky, who lived in Stockton before she moved to Middlesbrough, turned to prostitution to feed a drug habit.

Detectives know she was dropped off by taxi outside the Shipmate pub, Union Street, Middlesbrough, at about 4am on Sunday, September 24, 2000. There, the trail goes cold.

A man walking his dog found Vicky's naked remains near remote West Lane, outside Danby, on the North York Moors.

The 21-year-old's killer has never been caught - but her mother remains hopeful she will see justice done.

"I am serving a life sentence," she said. "Vicky's death is something that will not go away - but my hope is to see her killer in court before I die.

"That hope keeps me focused. It may take years, but I have got to think it will happen tomorrow."

In the past eight years, two other prostitutes working in Middlesbrough have gone missing, on top of the assaults, which often go unreported. Donna Keogh, 17, disappeared in April 1998, and 19-year-old Rachel Wilson was last seen in May 2002.

Anyone with information in relation Vicky's death is urged to call Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111.