PEOPLE living in Swindon's so-called red light district claimed another victory yesterday after a prostitute was jailed for breaching an order banning her from the area.

The two-month jail sentence for 23-year-old Carina Matysiak, of Park North, is the fourth injunction excluding working girls from the Manchester Road and Broad Street area.

And residents who have been campaigning for decades to clean up their neighbourhood are delighted that, at last, there is an effective solution emerging to deal with the problem.

Self employed mechanic Matt McCue, 51, of Station Road is a member of residents' group Street Watch, which has been patrolling the streets gathering evidence on prostitutes. He said: "My reaction to today's sentence is good. The community has now got the chance of a quality of life which it deserves. We have been fighting a totally non-confrontational campaign for 19 years now, liaising with Swindon Council, the police and residents. There used to be as many as 19 girls working the area at night, but now there are four or five."

Swindon County Court heard an impassioned plea from Miss Matysiak, after borough solicitor Francis Maples told Judge John McNaught she had breached a ban from the area 30 times.

In tears, Miss Matysiak told the court: "I was a heroin addict and crack head. All of a sudden I got my life sorted out with my mum's support. Then I had this black pimp threatening me, taking my money. He said if I didn't give him money he would petrol bomb my house, and he put a knife to my neck, ribs and stomach. Now I've got away from him and I haven't worked for a month. He tried to get me back on the drugs, but I'm not on drugs now."

The judge said that though he sympathised with Miss Matysiak, he had dealt with two breaches of the ban before, and he had to keep his sentencing consistent.

He told the court that, after Swindon Council was granted an injunction on January 3, two working girls were jailed for breaching a ban ordering them to stay out of a large part of central Swindon between 6pm and 6am.

These were Leanne Goldsmith, 21, of Raleigh Avenue, who was jailed for 28 days after 10 breaches, and Hayley Cosgrave, 23, of no fixed abode, who was jailed for two months after 37 breaches.

A third girl, 22-year-old Eleanor Belcher, accepted the banning order while in prison for a separate matter."I think it's only right I treat you in the same way as the others," he told Miss Matysiak.

After the hearing, Insp David McMullin, of Swindon police, said: "I appreciate the support residents received from the court. It shows we are doing everything we can to try to combat the problem of street prostitution."

He said that, since December, he has sent out 24 letters to kerb crawlers telling them their car registration numbers have been recorded in an area were there is a campaign to clamp down on prostitutes.

Armstrong Street resident Les Horn, 81, of Broad Street Comm-unity Council, said: "It was the correct action. She put up a good show in there but if you saw her act in Manchester Road, where she approached people and if they didn't want her services she gave them abuse, you would see a different side."

Borough solicitor Mr Maples said that six more injunctions banning working girls from the area will be applied for after evidence on their activities is gathered.

Coun John Taylor (Lab, Central) said: "This is another very important step forward in this campaign to tackle prostitution, and I'm very pleased with the outcome.

Carina's mother Halina Matysiak, 45, of Park North, said: "I don't believe there is enough help for any of the girls out there in the same situation as her. Where is the Government money for people with these problems? All I can say is that the streets of Swindon are more dangerous than people realise."