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"No little girl says I'm going to grow
up and be a drug addict and live on the street and sell my body...
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A 17 year old Dublin heroin addict was denied bail. She had been originally arrested for prostitution after having been found providing sex to a 50 year old man in an alleyway while her mother and 6 year old sister stood nearby. | ||
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26 Jan | Liverpool city council voted overwhelmingly to approve a Prostitution Tolerance Zone and planned to write to the Home Office for approval. It would be England's first Tolerance Zone. | |
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27 Jan | BBC News gave details about the approaches of various cities to prostitution in the article "Tackling prostitution around the UK". Cities include: Aberdeen, Doncaster, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Stoke-on-Trent. | |
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29 Jan | Sheriff Hugh Neilson resigned. In September 2004, Neilson was found in a sauna during human trafficking probe in Glasgow. | |
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31 Jan | 82% of respondents to a Liverpool Echo poll voted against Prostitution Tolerance Zones in Liverpool. | |
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02 Feb | Karen Weaver, an Edinburgh prostitute who quit the streets, was given a six month probation order by the courts. Weaver was the first Scottish prostitute to have Anti-social Behavior Order taken out against her. | |
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03 Feb | The 17 year old heroin addicted Dublin prostitute was released into a care home. (See above: Jan. 18) | |
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10 Feb | A grant of £300,000 was given by the Big Lottery Fund to UK Network of Sex Work Projects. Samaritans grant request was denied due to their alleged" failure to target disadvantaged sections of society." | |
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10 Feb | The Guardian reported in "Migrant women forced into cheap sex trade" that police have reported a surge in rough, unprotected sex and that East European prostitutes in London live in fear of violent pimps. | |
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13 Feb | In an effort to fight prostitution, the Westminster City Council asked phone companies to disallow incoming calls to phone booths. | |
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13 Feb | Scottish Sheriff Hugh Neilson was interviewed for Presidency of Mental Health Tribunal. The job has a salary of £122,000. Neilson was found in Sept 2004 during a raid by police investigating the trafficking of foreign women for the sex trade He was in the waiting room of a Glasgow sauna, wearing only a towel. (Note: Mrs. Eileen Davie appointed president Feb 22, 2005) | |
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16 Feb | Announcement of upcoming event to be held in Edinburgh on March 10, 2005: "Unfair Trade: Prostitution and the Sex Industry in Scotland" | |
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20 Feb | The Telegraph published an interview with Margaret McDonald after her release from prison. Former escort turned "madam": "Confessions of the world's most successful madam" | |
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22 Feb | The Salvation Army faced opposition over their plans for a prostitute Drop-in Centre in Boscombe. Protestors wanted a more suitable location. | |
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24 Feb | The 17 year old heroin addicted prostitute in Dublin broke conditions of her bail and was taken back into custody. (See: Jan 18) | |
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25 Feb | John Hurst, deputy head of St Martin's CoE Primary School was convicted of kerb-crawling in Owston Ferry. | |
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26 Feb | The Children's Society published a report and requested a national network of safe emergency accommodation for runaways, many of whom wind up involved in prostitution, drugs and crime. | |
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02 Mar | Margo McDonald was reportedly ready to drop her Prostitution Tolerance Zones bill if the Scottish Executive accepted recommended reforms to prostitution law. | |
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02 Mar | Prostitution Tolerance Zones were slammed by the NHS Greater Glasgow which was critical of the "inadequate" Scottish Executive report saying it fails vulnerable women. | |
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04 Mar | A police study in Scotland showed that vice girls were spending an average of £300/day on crack cocaine | |
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04 Mar | In Bristol, Luke Hayward and Daniel Perrett were found guilty of assault after dragging prostitute Joanna Thomas alongside a moving car. | |
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06 Mar | The Belfast Telegraph reported that a UDA (Loyalist paramilitary) leader, Jim Spence, is allegedly running prostitution rings with impunity from British in exchange for counter-intelligence. | |
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06 Mar | "Unfair Trade: Prostitution and the Sex Industry in Scotland" was held in Edinburgh. It was organised by Edinburgh City Council and Zero Tolerance, the campaign opposing violence against women and children. Topics to be dealt with included tolerance zones, international trafficking and public policy. | |
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10 Mar | The Edinburgh City Council leaders were reportedly angry that Scottish Executive’s expert group failed to come up with firm proposals regarding tolerance zones. | |
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11 Mar | The Irish Gardai report that the Paiche Onyemaechi case is still being actively investigated. Paiche, allegedly a prostitute and lapdancer was murdered and her headless body found in July 2004. | |
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14 Mar | Residents in Streatham Hill circulated a petition calling for increased security at the Brindley House flats due to the communal hall area being "plagued by" prostitution and drug activity. | |
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15 Mar | The Daily Record reported that the "Yardies" are selling crack cocaine in Edinburgh and are providing it cheap or free to women. This has resulted in an increase in prostitutes working to support their addiction. (See: Yardies) | |
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18 Mar | The Salvation Army dropped its plans for a prostitute Drop-in Centre in Boscombe due to complaints by residents. (See Feb. 22) | |
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21 Mar | In his consultation response, Chief Executive George Black responded to the Scottish Executive independent expert group report on prostitution saying that it ignored hard facts. Black supports a zero tolerance approach. | |
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22 Mar | Liverpool Judge David Fletcher cracked down on kerb crawling. Johns were named, driver's licenses revoked, etc. | |
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22 Mar | Glasgow City Council Chief Executive George Black issued a report stating, among other things, that the sex-trade in Glasgow ‘makes £3m a year for drug dealers’. | |
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22 Mar | The Post's Saturday magazine "Seven" investigated Bristol's booming sex economy. | |
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24 Mar |
Raymond Hutcheon, alleged "kerb-crawler" was appointed to the Scottish Executive "Expert Group" to probe Scotland's vice industry (See:
Lap-dancing inquiry group named and Membership of Group to look at adult entertainment industry http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2005/03/24100257) |
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24 Mar | Announcements were made about the publication of a book written by Teela Sanders of the University of Leeds.: "Sex Work, a Risky Business". The book is described as "a richly detailed account of the way the sex industry works, and one of the few empirical studies that investigates the off street industry in Britain." | |
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29 Mar | Louise Gray's article "The dangerous game", published in The Scotsman, describes the violence experienced by prostitutes and discusses Prostitution Tolerance Zones. | |
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30 Mar | Mark Durkan of the SDLP was interviewed by BBC News and said that he believes assets recovered from the Assets Recovery Agency should be used to fund victim support. Among other things, the ARA investigates paramilitary-run organised crime, from prostitution to protection rackets. | |
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31 Mar | Scotpep warned that plans to curb problems related to prostitution could cause vigilante-style attacks on street workers. Scotpep backs plans to decriminalize prostitution. | |
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01 Apr |
The Crouch End council met to decide whether to renew the massage and special treatment licence for "massage parlour" owned by Josephine Daly. In 2002, Daly was ordered to hand over more than £2million when the court heard that women had been smuggled from Thailand & Eastern Europe and were servicing over 1500 men per week in her massage parlours. (Note: Currently attempting to find articles about the original conviction and the outcome of the Crouch End council meeting. The only article found to date is : "Notorious massage parlour faces the axe" - Original url: http://hamhighbroadway.london24.net/broadway/news/story.aspx?brand= NorthLondon24&category=Newsbroadway&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory= newsbroadway&itemid=WeED01 Apr 2005 11:17:22:503 |
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04 Apr | Judge Catherine Murphy of the Children’s Court in Dublin heard praised the efforts of the 17 year old heroin addicted prostitute to overcome her addiction. The girl is residing in a care home, with supervised visits from her mother who is being investigated for her involvement with the girl's prostitution. The mother and younger sister (age 6) were present when the girl was arrested while engaging in an act of prostitution with a 50 year old man. (See: Jan 18) | |
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05 Apr | BBC News reported about a day long seminar for men arrested for kerb - crawling. Allegedly only 3 out of 400 participants were re-arrested. (See: Kerb crawlers dig deep to change) | |
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10 Apr | Trial at Southwark Crown Court: Edward Day owned massage parlours and split the profits with his brother Alan His sons Teddy and Steve ran the "massage parlours". There were 7 total in London and Essex. They were arrested July 2004 and pleaded guilty March 2005. Others involved are: Richard White, Nicholas Slesser, and Philip Culleton. Culleton's girlfriend, 44-year-old Linda Lee, worked as a maid at some of the premises. Their sentencing is scheduled for April 18. The undercover police investigation in 2004 found Eastern European sex slaves. | |
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12 Apr | George McCoy, author of "McCoy's Guide" was featured on BBC1’s Streets of Vice. Right Rev Nigel Stock, Bishop of Stockport, has called the guide (which points punters to "hot-spots") "de-humanising". | |
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13 Apr | It was announced that the Scottish Parliament debate regarding prostitution (originally scheduled for April 2005) was to be delayed until October 2005 to allow the parliament's local government committee time to consider the Scottish Executive response to the expert group report. | |
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14 Apr |
Former Metro police officer,
Simon de Freitas, passed secret info from police databases to his girlfriend, brothel owner Linda Stanton. He pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office and has resigned from the Police Service. He faced 15 charges including aiding and abetting the exercise of control of a prostitute and living on prostitution. Stanton pleaded guilty to exercising control over a prostitute for gain and possessing a prohibited weapon (a CS gas canister.) The brothel receptionist claimed 3 police officers were regulars at brothels and that the prostitutes saw between 8 and 20 clients a day.. Documentation found by police showed Stanton took 50% of charges for sexual services. Receipts showed 90,000 deposited in her bank account although police suspect she made much more. Envelopes with nearly 6,000 cash were found in her car. Sentencing will take place at Harrow Crown Court on May 5. |
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14 Apr 16 Apr |
In Tooting, a 17 yr old male was charged with raping a prostitute after sexually assaulting her with the barrel of a handgun. He was allegedly one of a gang of men who raided a brothel, robbed a client and carried out a gang rape. Note: articles describe this as a violent rape of a foreign sex worker. | |
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18 Apr | The British government is pondering legalisation as the explosion in prostitution sees the number of sex workers rise by 50 per cent in five years to create £770m business. See Guardian article: "Sex comes out of the city into middle England" | |
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19 Apr |
After receiving "worrying reports" about child sex abuse, Northern Ireland's Children's Commissioner Nigel Williams issued a warning that children in Northern Ireland are being targeted by criminals attempting to involve them in prostitution. He said that through new legislation such as the Sexual Offences Act, and including the new Risk of Sexual Harm Orders, there are more ways that statutory agencies can prevent this from continuing or starting. |
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| 19 Apr | According to the Prostitution Law Review Committee's benchmark report, the number of prostitutes working in the New Zealand sex industry has increased 40% since decriminalizing prostitution. | ||
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20 Apr | West Yorkshire Police announced that Leeds police were issuing leaflets to Chapeltown residents asking for assistance to protect the area from anti-social behaviour. In March, a 31 yr. old prostitute was issued the first Anti-Social Behavior Order (ASBO) resulting from a criminal case in Leeds, after she was found guilty of loitering for the purposes of prostitution. The ASBO prohibits here from: Engaging in conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to anyone in West Yorkshire, Loitering or soliciting for the purpose of prostitution anywhere in West Yorkshire and Entering or attempting to enter a area between Harehills Lane, Roundhay Road, Barrack Road and Chapeltown Road unless for reasons of a medical emergency or to attend a pre-arranged medical appointment. Leaflets will give details of the order and display a photo of the woman and a map of areas she must not enter. | |
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21 Apr | Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith condemned plans for Liverpool's prostitution tolerance zone. | |
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21 Apr - 27 Apr |
A number of articles were published regarding the The Royal College of Nursing's decision at their Annual Conference, calling on the British government to decriminalise prostitution. The overwhelming majority of nurses agreed that prostitutes should no longer be the subject of criminal prosecutions but did not back the wholesale legalising of prostitution. | |
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30 Apr | A 32 yr. old woman brothel owner was accused of recruiting Kenyan girls into her brothel by placing false advertisements on a community website. | |
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04 May | Keith Gosling, former director of highways and emergency planning at Brent Council, was found guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse with 14 yr. old girl, taking and distributing an indecent photo of her and procuring her to become a prostitute. Sentenced to four and a half years. He posted photos taken with his cell phone onto a website. | |
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05 May | Former Metro police officer, Simon de Freitas, was sentenced to 6 months. Brothel owner Linda Stanton was sentenced to community service. See: Apr. 14 above. | |
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08 May | The Irish Central Statistic Office (CSO) will begin measuring the economic output of prostitution and the illegal sex industry in Ireland from 2006 forward. | |
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10 May | Glasgow prostitute Emma Caldwell was murdered and her body was found in a woodland. She is believed to be the eighth prostitute murdered in Glasgow since 1991. See: Strathclyde Police News Release | |
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11 May | As part of the investigation into the murder of Mary-Ann Leneghan, police raided the 263 Club, a massage parlour brothel on Oxford Street in Reading. Mary-Ann was held by a gang of men, injected with heroin, raped, stabbed and dumped in a park. Her 18 yr. old friend was shot in the head and also dumped in the park, left for dead. Police believe the 263 Club massage parlour and a flat above were linked to the killing. (Note: information regarding Mary-Ann is included here due to police inquiry into massage parlour possibly linked to case. To date there have been no news articles claiming she worked as a prostitute.) | |
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13 May | The Scotsman published an article regarding two lapdancers who are now working as prostitutes at the Dundas Street Sauna in Glasgow. See: "A vice little earner for sauna girls " | |
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16 May | In Ireland, the Fantasy Babes Escort Service reported that a man called "Barry" and associates were attempting to extort money from escort agencies and independent escorts in the Dundalk and Drogheda areas. A police report was made. | |
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18 May | Gloucestershire chief constable Tim Brain urged full implementation of a national strategy to tackle covert prostitution in massage parlours and saunas. He said that society must have a less ambivalent position about the nature of the vice industry, which he said was "organised crime on a big scale with big profits." One operation uncovered a secret room in a massage parlour which housed 49 girls illegally trafficked into the UK. Assets of £5 million were uncovered and 15 arrests made. | |
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19 May |
Kidnap, murder & attempted murder charges were filed in the Mary-Ann Leneghan case against: Michael Johnson, 18, Llewellyn Adams, 23, Adrian Thomas, 19, Indrit Krasniqi, 18 and Jamaile Morally, 21 (who was also charged with rape.) | |
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20 May | Joshua Morally. 22, was charged with kidnapping and murdering 16-year-old Mary-Ann and with the attempted murder of her 18 yr. old friend. Myron Hiliaire, 18, was charged with possessing a prohibited weapon. | |
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24 May | Illegal Albanian immigrant, Agrol Xhabri was jailed for 12 years. Xhabri is a pimp who raped a 17 yr. old Latvian girl up to 30 times and forced her into prostitution. She was kidnapped from her father's home in London. | |
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25 May | Ann O'Brien, 32, originally from Kenya, was found guilty of three counts of controlling prostitutes between Oct. 2003 & April 2004. At one point O'Brien was earning £12,000 per week. She advertised the "Marble Arch Girls" agency and "Nancy's Escort Visiting and Massage Service." 200,000 telephone box cards were found in her room. Sentencing is scheduled for June 22. The judge said he will consider sentencing her to community service. She will also face a confiscation hearing regarding her 27 bank accounts and £1.25m brothel. She reportedly profited £1.6m since 1997. | |
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07 Jun | Ruhama issued report: "Next Step Initiative". They called on the Irish Government to examine law reform in the area of prostitution and to consider deleting criminal records for prostitution to enable former prostitutes to get jobs. | |
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22 Jun | Ann O'Brien was given 180 hours community service and ordered to pay the prosecution costs of £3,982. A confiscation hearing will be held in November when the Crown is expected to seek up to £1.2 million. "The committed Christian lived in a top floor penthouse in Upper Berkley Street, central London, and owned a hairdressers called Dream Girl Creations as a front to her illegal business." | |
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23 Jun | Three "non-national" women & two men arrested in Carlow / Wexford by detectives investigating Irish vice ring. | |
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04 Jul | Two girls hired for sex from massage parlour in Loot jumped 40 ft. from window onto concrete pavement to escape knife attack by Timothy Hjertum at his flat. One girl battered with bottle. Victim Wei Ya Cui broke her pelvis and jaw - 6 weeks in hospital. Both girls seriously injured. | |
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04 Jul | Proposals which follow the expert working group on prostitution earlier this year" are expected to be announced. Managed tolerance zones for every local authority in Scotland. Authorities wishing to set up a managed zone in an area where it would not cause offence could do so. Changes to legislation may be included in the Police Bill which is expected to go through parliament shortly. See: "Being Outside" (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/12/20410/48751) | |
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09 Jul | The Scottish Executive is withdrawing funding to Scottish Civic Forum. The Forum has spent the last six years encouraging community groups, churches, trade unions and others to have their say on key issues, including prostitution tolerance zones. | |
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12 Jul | Ruhama Women's Project annual report for 2003/2004 published. They encountered 91 women trafficked into sex industry and helped 21. Criminal gangs are using the internet & mobile phones. Ruhama called for Vice Squad & legislation to address trafficking. Spokeswoman Geraldine Rowley said there was no doubt lap-dancing clubs linked to trafficking and prostitution. | |
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27 Jul | Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland are profiting from prostitution. The LVF (Loyalist Volunteer Force) is alleged to be most heavily involved. See: UDA may step into loyalist paramilitary feud | |
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05 Aug | Massage parlour: "Lanacombe" in Crouch End had its licence renewed after police objections were withdrawn. Police inquiry re: prostitution was triggered by Eaves women's charity. Study: "Sex in the City" investigated sites across London believed to be selling sex. In 2002, Josephine Daly was ordered to hand over more than £2million earned from Lanacombe and two other saunas. She was guilty of smuggling women from Thailand and Eastern Europe to work as prostitutes. New owners have nothing to do with sex trade. | |
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14 Aug | A major Garda investigation has been launched into the vice trade, where it is claimed that immigrant women are being forced to work as prostitutes. A dedicated unit has been set up to carry out a wide-ranging inquiry into brothels, lap-dancing clubs and street prostitution in Dublin. | |
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18 Aug | The number of prostitutes working in Edinburgh has dropped dramatically after Prostitution Tolerance Zone no longer operating. | |
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07 Sep | Police are investigating "Pinks" Massage Parlour in Denton following a meeting between local residents and MP Andrew Gwynne. Findings sent to police and UK immigration service. (Note: was trafficking suspected?) | |
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24 Sep | Vigilante patrols in Leith have been organised to confront vice girls. Protests at Parliament building, courts and outside base of prostitute support group are being considered. | |
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28 Sep | Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF), the national drugs policy and information charity, said fewer than ten specialist services are in place throughout Scotland to deal with the specific needs of drug users involved in sex work. Of an estimated 1750 thought to be in street sex work - including 150 in Edinburgh - police believe that 95 per cent of the estimated 1400 female street sex workers are thought to have a drug problem. | |
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12 Oct | Jim Gray (nicknamed "Doris Day"), UDA (Ulster Defence Association - paramilitary group) died. "Celebrity gangster in an organisation mired in racketeering, drug dealing, extortion and prostitution, and whose declared war against the IRA was often seen as an afterthought to its criminal empire." Guardian | |
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12 Oct | An 18 yr. old man was arrested regarding the knife-point rape of 3 women by gang of Eastern European men at a massage parlour in Adyfield. Cash and mobile phones were also stolen. The same gang is believed to be responsible for a similar incident at massage parlour in Watford on Sept. 15 - 2 where 2 women were threatened at knifepoint and cash and mobile phones stolen. | |
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13 Oct | West Yorkshire Police operation targeting "every aspect" of the vice industry. Aiming to encourage sex workers into treatment, outreach workers were sent to Holbeck More area. 25 sex workers are currently receiving treatment, 10 "drug dens" were closed, 6 people issued ABCs for soliciting, and 3 involved in drug dealing/pimping were arrested. Holbeck Police are successfully battling kerb crawlers - 70 ABC's have been issued to date. They are attempting to tackle the "supply and demand" aspect of prostitution. Superintendent Peter Nicholson's statement re: new powers that will be used in the future against kerb crawlers is explained in press release: Focus on Vice Trade. | |
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16 Oct | Belfast resident, Dominic Marsella was charged with two counts of controlling prostitution between August 31 and October 1 this year. He also faced a third charge of making arrangements for trafficking a woman on September 24 this year. Marsella is out on bail. | |
| November 2005 | |||
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01 Nov | The Scottish Executive Executive plans to outlaw kerb-crawling and to put pressure on sex customers. The current law in Scotland only criminalises prostitutes. Proposals have been planned to send sex customers to 'John schools' for re-education. A number of articles were published in Nov. regarding this. See Nov. 2005. | |
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03 Nov | Senior prosecutor Stuart MacFarlane was arrested in Glasgow over alleged sex act with a prostitute | |
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06 Nov | Scottish advocate Alan Muir admitted to paying for sex in a sauna and revealed details of his sex life in "The Firm" magazine in an article defending former Sheriff Hugh Neilson. Muir does not believe Neilson should have lost his job after caught in Glasgow sauna (raided due to suspected sex trafficking.) | |
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09 Nov | According to the Guardian newspaper, official statistics show that 60 prostitutes have been murdered in the UK in the last 10 years. A controversial new self-help guide has been published. It offers advice to sex workers on surviving life in red light districts. | |
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12 Nov | In Norwich, 56-year-old traveller "Stanley" received two life sentences, one for murdering Hayley Curtis, a 23 yr. old Norwich prostitute, and for five serious attacks on former partner Fiance Richards. | |
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16 Nov | The Doncaster Council conducted a study into six areas where a "managed zone" for prostitutes could be created. The research took place 6 months ago and to date no action has been taken. | |
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18 Nov | "Louise", a prostitute working in Cardiff spoke to the BBC of her fears for the growing number of foreign women being forced to work in brothels across the city. She believes that 90% of the girls are pushed into it and that police should take a more active role in check the activity of brothels. | |
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19 Nov | Aleksandra Dronjak, 28, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death at the South Bank Holistic Medical Centre massage parlour in Kennington. She was the caretaker and lived on the premises. Dronjak is thought to be Serbian. | |
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20 Nov | Sauna and massage parlour owners in Scotland are to be asked to declare the earnings of prostitutes by tax inspectors conducting a major campaign to impose VAT on the multi-billion-pound UK vice industry. | |
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09 Dec | Prostitutes in Camden should not be punished with anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos), according to a new report from the London Assembly. | |
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11 Dec | Police investigating the Emma Caldwell murder issued an appeal to drivers of two vehicles seen near spot where her body was found on May 8, 2005. | |
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15 Dec | Julie Hyett, girlfriend of Welsh constable, John Thomas, was exposed as brothel madam and given a 15 month sentence (suspended for 2 years). Both Hyett and her 18 yr. old daughter had been working as prostitutes. | |
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23 Dec | Liverpool will learn in the New Year whether it has won government backing for a managed prostitute zone. If it gets the go-ahead, the council will start again to gather information about a suitable site. | |
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25 Dec | In objecting to Peter Stringfellow's application to open a lapdancing club in Dublin, Ruhama stated that street prostitution has all but disappeared from sight in Dublin and that gangs are trafficking women into Ireland. They believe that lapdancing is a short journey to prostitution. | |
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28 Dec | It was announced that a zero tolerance campaign against kerb crawlers and prostitutes will be launched by the British government in January 2006. Safe houses are to be created and other efforts to help women out of prostitution will be undertaken. Kerb crawlers will risk losing their driving licences and being named in local newspapers. There are calls for rape prosecutions against men who have sex with trafficked women. See articles - Dec 2005. | |
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