Appeal over prostitute murder

Carly's body was found in an alleyway

Police investigating the murder of a 17-year-old girl in Greater Manchester have appealed for help from drug addicts and prostitutes.

Teenager Carly Bateman, who was found dead near Crawford Avenue in Bolton on Sunday, had turned to prostitution to feed her drug habit.

Police believe she had been strangled.

Detective Chief Inspector Tony Cook from Greater Manchester Police said: "I appreciate that certain people will be worried that their families might find out they were in the area.

She may have been a drug addict and a prostitute, but people should not judge her

Vanessa Stirling, Mother

"It would be far better for those people to come forward than for us to knock on their door - which we will.

"All witnesses will be treated in confidentiality and with sensitivity," he added.

The girl's parents have revealed how they battled for more than two years to break their daughter's drug habit.

In a statement, Carly's mother, Vanessa Stirling, said: "In the beginning we did everything, including take her home kicking and screaming to try and help her stop taking drugs.

Parents' ordeal

"We would take her bowling, ice-skating, anything to keep her occupied rather than let her slip back again."

Her father, Alan Bateman, 44, said: "Because of her missing school, we were worried that she was falling behind in her work and wouldn't catch up, so we enrolled her at a private school.

"But just a few days after she started we got a call from the school saying Carly had been seen getting on a bus heading into town and we knew she had gone back to the drugs."

Ms Stirling, 48, added: "She may have been a drug addict and a prostitute, but people should not judge her.

"When people read she was mixed up with drugs, they will probably think her family didn't care, but we did everything we could for Carly.

"She was loved and cared for and we were always trying to help her.

"There was a lot of good in her."