A sex worker raped at knifepoint has bravely spoken about her horrendous ordeal she faced. The woman was one of three attacked by Stuart Thomson in January last year.

The predator later tried to rape a fourth woman. It was his final victim's bravery, in making a call to police, that saw Thomson jailed for life.

He was identified after detectives trawled hours of CCTV from Manchester city centre. Thomson's 'distinctive' outfit - a hoodie with a grey insert; a coat with green lining; a wool hat; and a high-vis style t-shirt - caught their attention.

Thomson, of Buxton Road, Stockport, was found guilty of three counts of rape; one count of attempted rape; three counts of threatening a person with a knife; one count of sexual assault and one count of possessing a bladed article. He pleaded guilty to one count of robbery.

Thomson was handed a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum term of 18 years.

Emma - not her real name - has has now spoken about her ordeal. She said Thomson approached her in the street before carrying out a sickening attack.

"It was a really bad time of my life," Emma said. "It was really scary as well because I didn't know whether the guy might get out and if he'd come and look for me.

"I'm just glad that it's over with."

Speaking about the courage of Thomson's other victims, she said: "Everyone came together. The police were brilliant. I probably wouldn't have gone through it all if it wasn't for certain officers.

"Even to this day, they still stay in touch with me to see if I'm okay. I'm just so glad he can't hurt anyone else."

Emma added: "I think if any sex worker gets attacked, go to the police because they're brilliant nowadays. They really will take you seriously.

"They've never judged us. A lot of people can judge us sometimes and I put my trust in them and they got the guy lifed off. If it wasn't for them I probably wouldn't have gone through it myself. They gave me the courage and strength to do it."

Emma has been working working with MASH (Manchester Action on Street Health), which supports sex workers in Greater Manchester.

"If it wasn't for them, I don't know what to do," she added. "They give us protection and we can get health checks off them as well.

"I say to anyone, 'I know in the past the police have not always liked us, but nowadays they're amazing'. I say to any girl - 'go to the police and report it'."

Lead investigator, Detective Sergeant Jennifer Savazzi from GMP's Longsight Criminal Investigations Department, detailed the extraordinary courage of the four women who brought Thomson to justice.

She said that on January 31 last year, police received an early-hours 999 call from a woman to say she had been raped.

"She said she was was following the offender," Det Sgt Savazzi said. "She didn't want us to lose him so she was telling the call handler where he was going, what streets he was going to.

"While we had gone out to see her, the van was flagged down by another victim to say she had also been raped and then they directed officers to that scene.

"Then much later in the day we had a phone call from another lady who said that she had been attacked and she said that there was another victim as well, so through her we identified a fourth victim as well.

"Not many people come forward in the immediate aftermath because they are traumatized from what's just happened to them. She had the kind of strength to think 'I need to call the police now'.

"I think she was worried about him being a danger to other women and that's what she was thinking about. It was quite something really.”

Speaking about the dangers of sex work on the streets of Manchester, Det Sgt Savazzi added: "They are going somewhere secluded with someone they don't know. They don't know what they're carrying and they don't know what they're capable of. They are at risk.

"Every time they meet someone new, or agree some sort of contact with somebody they don't know, I do worry. The one thing that I hope that this case does is prove that the police do care about their vulnerability, about the risk to them and will seek to put perpetrators in prison."

Speaking about Thomson, she added: "From the very first moment we met him, he was quite nonchalant, dismissive... certainly no remorse. He didn't seem to care when he was arrested, when he was charged. He was quite aggressive during the court process and started trying to have an argument with one of the jurors.

"He just didn't accept that he'd done anything wrong and went as far as blaming the victims - for not being very good at what they did. He came out with some really shocking things, things that I think you could have a 30-year career and not heard in court before. There was just no remorse for any of his actions at all.

"He knew he was targeting sex workers because he could get them alone. I have no doubt he thought they wouldn't be believed or that they wouldn't go to the police in the first place.

"I think his sentence reflects the dangerousness of his actions... that willingness to use a knife to threaten people. I hope that it does send a very clear message - one, that sex workers will be believed; and two, that you won't get away with it and you will be given a heavy sentence."