It is claimed that she, together with Gemma Adams, Anneli Alderton, Annette Nicholls and Paula Clennell, fell victim to forklift truck driver Steve Wright.

He is said to have strangled or smothered all five prostitutes while they were high on drugs during a six-week “campaign of murder” aimed at working girls.

Wright, 49, of Ipswich, a former QE2 steward and pub landlord, has denied the killings.

Speaking from behind a screen to avoid eye contact with Wright, Ms Nicol said her daughter descended into a drug-addicted hell.

She told the jury of nine men and three women that she found syringes in Tania’s bedroom and items which she stole and pawned to pay for drugs. 

She became painfully thin and her skin “spotty”. But although Tania admitted taking heroin, she later lied, claiming that she had kicked the habit and that the syringes belonged to a friend.

Ms Nicol, who also has a son Aaron, 16, said she became suspicious when someone called their home asking for Chantelle.

She traced the number and found it belonged to Cleopatra’s, an Ipswich massage parlour. Tania denied any knowledge of it.

Ms Nicol last saw her daughter on the night she disappeared, when she left home saying she was going to meet friends.

Under cross-examination from Timothy Langdale, QC, she told the jury she had never heard of Mr Stephens before her daughter vanished. 

But he rang her four times the following week, claiming to be a friend and asking if her daughter had returned. He urged her to call the police and told her that Tania spent up to £50 per night on heroin and was planning to move out.

Alison Fenning, who works for the Bridge Project, a charity which helps prostitutes, said she had spoken to Mr Stephens in the red light area.

He spoke about self-defence with such authority she thought he was an undercover police officer. She later saw him on TV.

The trial also heard from one of Gemma Adams’ clients, identified only as Witness C, who said he picked her up around midnight on November 15.

He drove her into the countryside for sex and dropped her off later in town before going to work. When he drove past the spot 15 minutes later she had gone. 

The body of Gemma, 25, was found nearly three weeks later in a stream near Hintlesham. The trial continues.