THE young prostitute strangled on a North-East trading estate had been planning to escape to a new life, it emerged yesterday.

Slightly built 20-year-old Kellie Mallinson worked as a prostitute in Middlesbrough to pay for her drug habit.

Yesterday, as police stepped up the hunt for her killer, a project worker who had become close to Kellie talked about the hopes of a vulnerable young woman, who had fallen into prostitution at the age of 16.

Wendy Shepherd, of Barnardo's Secos - Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Streets - project, said: "I think of her as a very sweet, young girl who was a little bit lost in life, who was trying and struggling to find something different.

"My last memory of her was the Wednesday before her death. We were painting her nails and combing her hair. She was a lovely girl.

"She would access the drop- in centre every Wednesday. She would come in and talk about her life, her wishes for the future."

In recent months, Kellie had grown to trust workers at the project, who offered her respect and a temporary haven from her hard life on the streets.

"She really did want to have another lifestyle and was thinking of ways of implementing that.

"She was certainly seeking treatment for her drug addiction. She was considering other things to do rather than prostitution, although she was struggling how she could do that,'' said Ms Shepherd. "What she wanted was peace in her life. She has found peace, but not how we would have wanted.''

Police have a detailed description of a man seen with Kellie on a lonely footpath, just hours before her body was found on a grassy area behind Cleveland Rewind, which is on Cannon Way, Middlesbrough.

Kellie's body was discovered at 11.50 am on Sunday, September 10. Superintendent Graham Strange, who is leading the investigation, said Kellie was seen walking with a man after midnight on Saturday. The man was 6ft tall, with short dark hair.

They were walking from the underpass which leads from the St Hilda's area to Wilson Street.

She walked towards Sainsbury's and turned right along the path which runs across the front of St Columba's Church, towards the supermarket car park.

Supt Strange appealed to anyone who might have seen Kellie or the man that night to call police on (01642) 303388.