CALLS for the prostitution to be legalised or for the police to turn a blind eye to it in toleration zones are getting louder as the town reflects on the tragic murder of teenage vice-girl Carly Bateman.

For one of the world's oldest "professions", there are those who feel it will never be stamped out and providing a safe house, under the eye of the law, is the safest bet to keep young vice-girls like Carly away from murders, drug dealers and pimps.

Carly's naked body was found in an alley at the back of Crawford Avenue. The BEN has since revealed that more than a dozen teenagers aged between the ages of 13 and 17 are regularly selling their bodies for sex in Bolton.

A former Labour councillor, who revealed 10 years ago that children were offering sex on Shiffnall Street, says that this, or legalisation, is the only realistic solution to help these lost children.

A major investigation into child prostitution was launched in 1991, after then Bolton councillor Paul Perry said he had seen a girl of 13 and a boy of similar age selling their bodies for sex.

He said at the time that there was a terrible problem on the streets and that he believed it was escalating, but social services chiefs and the police found no evidence and instead started to question Mr Perry.

But the ex-councillor, who had no accusations on him founded, is still calling for a safe house to be set up for prostitutes to work legally under the safer eye of the law.

Bolton Council is making new attempts to gain government cash to tackle prostitution and look at the most effective ways of cutting the menace, but many feel that it would be impossible to stamp out.

"I think Bolton should be calling for prostitution to be legalised. They should control it and be brave in their approach for a change," said Mr Perry, who was a member of the old social services committee.

"It is immoral but it's the oldest profession in the world. They are unfortunate people who are victims of our society.

"Get these girls off the streets in a place of safety and try to take out the pimps and the drugs element.

"There are many empty buildings that could be made into a safe house for prostitution on Shiffnall Street. They could be easily cleaned up and have cubicles put in.

"The police and the council should provide an area like this and control them. If they are outside that area then arrest them, or even put a curfew on the hours.

"This could have prevented Carly's death because the police would have been able to keep tabs on her."

Mr Perry will be putting his views to a police community meeting on Thursday night.

Burnden councillor Prentice Howarth has already called for a toleration zone to keep vice-girls safer and to keep kerb-crawlers away from residential areas so that other women are not approached. Cllr Howarth has been approached for many years by residents of the Haulgh about an invasion of prostitutes and female residents who have been propositioned by men.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said they would not support a tolerance zone because it would cause far more problems than it would solve.

"We are working to address the problem in the area," she said. "We are trying to solve the problems through the Prostitutes' Forum. It is a positive step forward with a multi-agency approach."