Sex slaves 'trapped in UK'

Sex trafficking offers gangs high returns for low risks

Up to 1,400 foreign women are tricked into sexual slavery in the UK each year, according to a report commissioned by the Home Office.

Organised gangs are forcing women - increasingly drawn from Eastern Europe - into prostitution because it is considered a lucrative and low-risk activity, the report suggests.

Vice detectives in London say the women suffer threats and intimidation which makes the situation increasingly difficult to police.

When they get here reality kicks in

Detective Inspector Paul Holmes

But researchers say most police forces adopt a "hands off" approach to prostitution and will usually only act after complaints from the public.

Dr Liz Kelly and Dr Linda Regan of the University of North London's Child and Women Abuse Studies Centre, said the increase in the numbers of women trafficked around the world was a "major concern".

Their study - the first of its kind to assess the extent of the problem - highlights the difficulty of accurately saying how many women are brought into Britain for prostitution.

Massage parlours

But following interviews with experts, a survey of police forces and official figures they estimate that between 140 and 1,400 women are used as sex slaves each year in the UK.

Trafficked women are trapped in off-street sex

The authors say the current police approach to the problem will not be effective in detecting trafficked women, and they want police to adopt a more proactive but sensitive monitoring stance.

Most of the sex slaves operate from flats or massage parlours. Some have been duped into coming to Britain, expecting legitimate employment.

Others accept they will be prostitutes but are handed over on arrival to an owner who keeps all the money they earn.

The researchers say even if the traffickers are caught, the punishment meted out is no deterrent.

Conference

Researchers found that the police are largely unaware of the scale of the off-street sex industry where trafficked women, and often children, are located.

They also call for the setting-up of a well-resourced specialist non-governmental organisation to offer support, information and advocacy for trafficked women as currently no such provision exists.

The number of foreign women in the sex trade is increasing

Detective Inspector Paul Holmes, of the Metropolitan police's vice squad, agreed the challenge for international law enforcement was to create conditions in which the victims felt safe enough to testify.

But he told The Guardian newspaper women working in effective imprisonment were too frightened to talk even if they could escape.

Gangs threatened them with deportation or violent reprisals against the families they had left behind.

He said many women had also paid up to £25,000 to get to the UK on promises of work and accommodation.

"Women are told `we will get you in on a six month visa entitlement and you can pay that off in three months'," he said.

"When she gets here reality kicks in. These women must be available for work and they must provide all services, including unprotected sex."

The report's findings have been passed to a Home Office team conducting a major review of sex offences.

Dr Kelly and Dr Regan are among the scheduled speakers at the first UK conference highlighting the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation, on 6 July at London's Barbican.