Cleveland Police to re-investigate disappearances of three women from Middlesbrough between 1998 and 2002

Three unsolved murder cases involving women from Middlesbrough are to be given a cash boost to help solve them.

The three women - Vicky Glass, Rachel Wilson and Donna Keogh - all disappeared between 1998 and 2002.

A reinvestigation will now begin with the Home Office funding a £3.77m police operation. Cleveland Police's Historical Investigation Unit, HIU, will look into the three deaths.

Rachel Wilson went missing in June 2002, two months after her 19th birthday. Ten years after she disappeared, in June 2012, a human skeleton was discovered in a ditch near Newham Hall Farm.

The remains were identified as Rachel's and a murder enquiry was launched.

Donna Keogh disappeared in April 1998. She has never been found but her case has been declared as a murder investigation.

She was 17 at the time and had been staying with cousins in Middlesbrough at the time of her disappearance.

Vicky Glass went missing in September 2000. Her body was discovered a month later in Danby, North Yorkshire and a murder enquiry was launched.

All three cases are linked through sex, ages and all are linked geographically to Middlesbrough.

Assistant Chief Constable Jason Harwin added that the cases were especially complex and that the funding grant would be a significant boost in the re-investigations.