The mother of one of five prostitutes found murdered during a ten-day period had "no idea" that her daughter was a sex worker, a jury has heard.

Kerry Nicol told Ipswich Crown Court that she thought her daughter Tania had been working as a hairdresser or in a bar.

Ms Nicol was giving evidence at the trial of a forklift truck driver accused of killing the five women.

Steve Wright, 49, of Ipswich, Suffolk, denies murdering Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24, and Annette Nicholls, 29.

The court has heard that the naked bodies of the five women were found at remote locations near Ipswich town centre in December 2006.

Tania's mother told the court that her daughter had grown up in Ipswich and did well at a local school.

But at 16 Tania had left home, moved into a hostel and begun taking heroin.

Ms Nicol said her daughter returned to the family home on the outskirts of Ipswich in late December 2005.

She said the teenager's appearance had changed - she had lost weight and her skin was "bad".

She said syringes had also been found in her daughter's bedroom - but Tania denied that she was continuing to take drugs. "She said she had a job and was managing all right," said Ms Nicol.

"She told me a few different things. She was a hairdresser at one point. Another time behind a bar in a pub."

Ms Nicol told jurors she had "no idea" that Tania was a prostitute.

The court heard that on one occasion Ms Nicol had answered a call from a massage parlour called Cleopatra's asking for a woman called "Chantelle".

Ms Nicol said she had also found a letter in Tania's bedroom addressed to "Chantelle".

And twice men she did not know had called the house.

Ms Nicol told the jury she had checked the telephone numbers dialled by Tania before she vanished when she realised her daughter had not returned home.

She told the court Tania had called a man by the name of Tom Stephens.

Ms Nicol told the court she received three phone calls from Mr Stephens following Tania's disappearance, with the first shortly after she went missing at 8pm on October 31, 2006.

She received a second call later urging her to report her daughter missing to police.

"I said I was thinking of calling the police and he said, 'I would if I was you'," she said.

Ms Nicol said Mr Stephens also called her following the discovery of Gemma Adams' body.

"He said to me someone has been found. He said, 'was it Tania?' I said no it wasn't Tania because she didn't have blonde hair. I didn't talk to him for long," she told the court.

She said police had called her following the discovery of Miss Adams' body to tell her that Tania was still missing.

In an earlier conversation with Mr Stephens, Ms Nicol said he had asked her a "strange" question.

Timothy Langdale QC, defending Wright, asked Ms Nicol about a 45-minute conversation she had with Mr Stephens on November 10, 2006.

Mr Langdale said: "Did he say, 'would the girls still go out and do what they do if one of them had got murdered?"'

Ms Nicol answered: "I did stop and think it was a strange thing to say but I didn't ask him what he meant."

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