Angel face who had the world at her feet

Blonde and pretty with an angelic grin, Caroline Creevy had the world at her feet.

Her early years were like those of any other little girl filled with fun and laughter and the love of her family and friends.

She wasn't academic but loved painting and drawing and had lots of school friends.

As she grew up her dream was to become a nanny looking after the children she doted on.

But that dream was to end in tragedy as she fell into a life of prostitution which was to lead to a bloody and savage murder.

Yet Caroline was brought up in a respectable family - far removed from the sleazy, drug-infested world of prostitution.

Her father Chris, an army man, worked for the Royal Army Ordinance Corps in Salisbury. That was where Caroline was born, on November 5, 1970.

Two years later the family moved back up to Yorkshire, to their family home in a middle class area of Huddersfield.

Her mother Pat said: "She was a fun child with lots of friends. She enjoyed painting and drawing. She was a typical, beautiful child who we all loved and still love."

Caroline went to school in the town - but two incidents shaped her life as a young girl.

Her father and mother split up in 1979. And four years later an uncle, who she was very close to, died tragically.

Her mother remarried and Caroline began looking to the future. She wanted a job working with children and she was considering training to become a nanny - her childhood dream.

But the temptation of prostitution - with its easy money - proved too great.

Caroline started to get involved in a trade which would ultimately lead to her death.

Her mother Pat, 48, said: "Caroline loved children. She wanted one of her own, but it just didn't happen.

"When she was about 17 she got in with the wrong crowd. I first had an idea she was a prostitute when I saw what she was wearing when she went out.

"But when I see some of the girls just going for a night out today, it's like Caroline was wrapped up warm.

"We had arguments. She didn't like being a prostitute but it was easy money.

"But she never claimed any social security - she was very proud of that."

Caroline began working the streets of Bradford and Huddersfield on a regular basis. She made friends with Barbara Jackson, a prostitute at the time, when they met after being arrested by police.

Mother-of-three Barbara, who has not been a prostitute for six years, lived with Caroline for some time in the early 1990s. She became her closest friend and ally. They were like sisters.

"Her boyfriend was beating her up," said Barbara, 31. "She was down and depressed at the time, the man was very violent. But she thought the world of him.

"She started going off the rails from that point on."

Caroline was like a mother to Barbara's two youngest children - five-year-old Shane and Selina, four.

"She loved them," said Barbara. "When she died I told them she had been taken to the stars in the sky. Whenever they see a star, they always ask if it is Caroline. They even say goodnight to them, they miss her so much."

When Caroline eventually made the break from her violent boyfriend she met Glenn Johnson, who is better known as Ragga.

Barbara said: "He wanted her to stop. Ragga wanted Caroline to get a better job.

"She had never been so happy than with Ragga."

But the life of Caroline Creevy was to take another tragic twist. She was introduced by Ragga to Valentine, and the couple stayed at his flat in Soho Mills, Thornton Road, Bradford, after being kicked out of their flat in the complex. And in the final months of her life, Caroline became hooked on heroin.

Ragga was then sent to prison for theft in October 1996. Less than a month later Caroline was dead.

Pat, who now helps run social clubs in Huddersfield with her second husband Michael, said the news that Caroline was missing sent shock waves throughout the family.

"Whatever has been said in court, Caroline never severed her links with us," said Pat.

"She would often come back to Huddersfield from Bradford. But that night when the police phoned, I knew something was wrong.

"The police said they had a funny feeling about it."

Barbara said: "The police said there was something seriously wrong.

"Some people, including myself, do not give much praise for the police. But they have been marvellous. Absolutely brilliant."

The dreaded telephone call came on November 17. The police had found Caroline's body.

Pat said: "It was the worst day of my life. There was no Christmas that year. And there's been no Christmas this year.

"Some people forget that the girl found, although a prostitute, is still a human being.

"She is someone's daughter, sister, niece, aunt and friend - and she comes from a family that loved her for who she was, never mind what she did.

"We may not have liked her chosen profession. But in the end we still loved her and prayed she would be safe.

"When the word prostitute was mentioned in court, you could hear the silence. Caroline's friends were introduced to the jury as prostitutes, as though they plied their trade side by side.

"Would the same be said if the victims and her friends worked in a supermarket? Would that keep being mentioned over and over again?

"The court was not told that Caroline had a loving family, where she lived a lot of her time. It was only told of her so-called seedy life. The jury did not hear how dearly she was loved and liked by everyone who knew her."

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