CONCERN is growing for the third prostitute to go missing from the streets of a North-East town.

The family of 19-year-old Rachel Wilson are scouring Middlesbrough for the vanished teenager.

Worried social workers are questioning vice girls they meet on the streets for any clue as to her whereabouts.

Rachel, who sells sex to fuel her drug habit, phoned her family without fail every day.

But the telephone has been silent and Rachel, who lived in the town's Grove Hill, has not been seen for nearly a fortnight.

Vicky Glass also turned to prostitution to feed her heroin addiction. The 21-year-old's remains were found on the North York Moors, two years ago. Her killer has never been caught.

Vice girl and addict, Donna Keogh, 17, disappeared without trace from the same town centre area of Middlesbrough, where Vicky was last seen in 1998.

Wendy Shepherd, of the Barnardo's-backed Safely Exiting Children Off the Streets (Secos) project, in Middlesbrough, said she was concerned for the teenager's safety.

She said: "It is out of character, and when something goes out of character the warning bells start ringing.

"We live sometimes in a dangerous world and, until we know she is safe, people are going to worry.

"She is not a young person who would normally go missing from home. She does have a good relationship with her mother who she always calls. She phones on a daily basis.

"For Rachel to be missing without any contact is cause for concern for her family and for the professionals. It's not Rachel's style to do that.

"We are concerned. We can only hope she is in a safe situation. She has gone missing and we need to act and try to find her.''

She said any information which the Secos team gleaned would be passed onto police.

Cleveland Police says it is treating the disappearance as a missing person inquiry.