FIVE prostitutes have been raped by their customers in the past six months, the Advertiser has been told.

And one says her attacker may be the man police are hunting for in connection with the brutal rape of a working girl last week.

The prostitute, who asked not to be identified, said the man who raped her at Christmas exactly fits the description of an attacker who raped a prostitute at the Groundwell Industrial Estate last Monday.

Because of the attack she now does her business in alleyways, in flats, and refuses to get into punters' cars.

The revelations come just days after serial prostitute killer Steve Wright was sentenced to life behind bars for killing five vice girls in Suffolk.

The vice girl, aheroin addict from West Swindon, says most prostitute rapes in the town go unreported.

She says girls are too frightened to go to the police, in case they are prosecuted for working.

"Good on the girl for reporting the crime to police," said the woman.

"I couldn't because I am a wanted woman."

The 23-year-old says that her rape scared her. And although it has not forced her off the streets she now touts for trade in darkened alleys, looking for clients to fund her addiction.

"The man who raped me had been a customer of mine in the past," she said.

"He was horrible and violent. All I could do is spit at him as I left.

"The problem is that he still has girls all over his place and no-one is doing anything.

"I haven't seen him since, but my mates chased him down the street when they saw him a month back."

Two other girls who spoke to the Advertiser included a heroin addict from Walcot.

The 22-year-old knew the prostitute who was attacked last week.

And although her friend was raped, she is still working in Manchester Road at least three nights a week.

She said that after the rape, feelings were running high among working girls, but they would all carry on regardless.

"The police just need to leave us alone and let us do what we have to do," she added.

Another prostitute in her mid-20s was out all weekend.

She said she knew the victim and felt the incident had highlighted the risks the prostitutes were taking. But she also said her friend had vanished from the streets since the Monday night attack.

No-one investigating the rape at Wiltshire Police was available for comment.

Hunt goes on for attacker


POLICE are still hunting the man who raped a prostitute in Swindon last Monday.

On Wednesday the Advertiser reported that a 26-year-old prostitute was raped.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident, which happened at about 10.30pm last Monday.

The man police are looking for is described as flabby, with a shaven head and bushy eyebrows.

He posed as a punter and picked up the vice girl from Fleming Way and then drove her, in his dark coloured T-reg Mitsubishi, to the Groundwell Industrial Estate.

After making the 2.5-mile trip he suddenly became aggressive.

The man, believed to be 6ft tall and in his 40s, suddenly attacked her.

She later managed to escape and alert the authorities.

The Swindon woman was taken to the Great Western Hospital.

Anyone with any information about the incident should contact Acting Detective Inspector Corin Dennison at Swindon police on 0845 408 7000.

Alternatively, ring the Crimestoppers line anonymously on 0800 555 111.