DETECTIVES were today probing the twilight world of murder victim Angela Heyes.

After reports that the 33-year-old Bolton mum may have worked as a prostitute, murder squad police are anxious to question her associates, including street girls and men who may have been clients.

"We are trying to establish her routine in her lifestyle," said Det Supt John Waterworth, who is leading the hunt for the sex fiend who strangled her.

Angela had no convictions for prostitution but Det Supt Waterworth urged anyone who may have been one of Angela's punters to come forward before they are traced and promised their information will be treated confidentially. Police inquiries are more complicated by the fact that Angela sometimes used the alias Shelley and is occasionally known to have worn a blonde wig.

She is believed to have picked up clients in town centre pubs.

"There could well be people in one of the pubs who saw her leave with someone," said Det Supt Waterworth.

Friends have revealed that in recent months Angela had been trying to track down her daughter, who is now 16 and has been in foster care for several years.

Greater Manchester Police took over the murder inquiry from the neighbouring Lancashire force late yesterday after it was discovered that the body found on the moors near Egerton was a Bolton woman.

Angela, who was born and brought up in Bolton and still has a mother living in the area, was just two weeks away from celebrating her 34th birthday when her body was found. She had lived alone in the Park Road bedsit she has rented for a year.

Police say her strangled body, naked apart from bra and knickers, had been lying on the moor off Stones Bank Road, Egerton, for several days but they are still trying to establish where she was murdered. The last time Angela was seen alive was by neighbours at her flat two weeks ago on January 3. "We want to speak to anyone who has seen her or had any contact with her since then," said Det Supt Waterworth.

An incident room was set up today at Castle Street police station and Det Supt Waterworth says that already information is beginning to come in. They have been contacted by her current boyfriend, although they are still trying to speak to three or four other "men in her life".

A mobile incident room is to be set up in the Park Road area and police are starting door-to-door inquiries in the area

"The violence used was quite excessive and I am desperate to find her killer," said Det Supt Waterworth. "He clearly is a dangerous man and is somebody who must be found very quickly."

But he stressed that although there are similarities between Angela's murder and others around the country, there was no evidence to link her killing.

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