"STREET prostitutes are victims", she said.

"They are the ones at risk."

The woman, who did not wish to be identified, was working as a prostitute in Glasgow's red light district in the 1990s.

She said: "If you didn't bring the money home, the stick man [her pimp] would beat you.

"Not in the face because that would put the punters off.

"But you'd still get a doing.

"You'd get battered so badly, you had no option but to bring home money the next night."

Most sex workers have been forced, coerced and pressured into prostitution because of drugs, money, health, housing problems, and the abusive men in their lives.

Most say that, given the chance, they'd like to get out.

But they become caught up in the cycle of drug addiction, violence, fines, courts and even prison, which stop them trying to move out of prostitution.

She added: "Getting battered and the fear of going cold turkey meant taking on the punters that the other girls had rejected. We didn't have the luxury of choice.

"If you said 'no', these types just went ahead and did what they wanted. Then they would 'forget' to pay.

"Some of these guys were known for putting girls in the hospital, but we still had to take them on.

"In the 1990s, around the time of the deaths, there were guys who were into S&M tastes and were known to go too far.

"Most girls wouldn't get involved with them - even if they offered to pay extra.

"But there were girls who didn't have a choice. A rough punter was better than no punter at all."

Today, women still work on the so-called 'Drag' in the Anderston area of the city, but not many. Far far fewer indeed than the number of women who worked there at the height of the murders.

Glasgow's traditional red-light district and Glasgow Green, which was also an area for prostitution, have almost emptied, although the prostitutes who once lined the streets still occasionally visit.

One ex-police officer said: "When I was a beat cop in the 1980s and 1990s, you knew where the women were.

"But now, the problem is underground, behind the closed doors of flats and hotel rooms, and vulnerable women could be getting attacked without anyone knowing.

"It's a case of out of sight, out of mind."