Wright: red light dimmed in Ipswich

A drug charity says the red light is going out in Ipswich - 14 months after five prostitutes were killed.

Drugs charity the Iceni Project said there are now only "three or four" vice girls working the Suffolk town's streets.

Director Brian Tobin said he could see a time when the town's red-light district would not exist.

"If you had asked me a year ago if I thought we would be able to eradicate the street sex industry, I would've said 'no'," he said.

"Now, if the current trend continues, I think there's a very good chance.

"I can safely say that the majority of Ipswich will soon be completely free of the street sex industry if all the agencies keep up their efforts."

An Ipswich prostitution strategy was launched in March last year.

More than 100 kerb crawlers - including Metropolitan police sergeant Mark Daniel - were arrested and prostitutes were offered help for drug addictions.

Ipswich - a market town most famous for its football team - has a population of about 120,000.

Painters John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough were two of its most famous past residents, along with Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, one of the Henry VIII's closest allies.