United Kingdom 2005: Prostitution

United Kingdom 2005: Prostitution Also see: United Kingdom 2005: Trafficking
JANUARY
20-Jan-05	Prostitution investigation continues	American Phone Card website Danny Brierley	London Police chiefs, health experts, church leaders and youth workers met about prostitution in London. "Safer London Committee" investigating brothels, massage parlours, sexual health, pimps, organised crime, people trafficking, street prostitution and red light areas. Phone boxes are littered with calling cards from prostitutes.
26-Jan-05	Approval for first red light zone	BBC News	Liverpool Prostitution Tolerance Zones
26-Jan-05	Residents support prostitute plan	BBC News
27-Jan-05	Liverpool makes bid for first legal prostitution zone	AFP
	Official red light zone approved	ic Scotland
	Tackling prostitution around the UK	BBC News Cindi John
FEBRUARY
11-Feb-05	Migrant women forced into cheap sex trade	Guardian Rosie Cowan	Surge in rough, unprotected sex. East European prostitutes in London live in fear of violent pimps - police comment
13-Feb-05	London officials fight prostitution phone-booth cards	Wall Street Journal David Pringle	Westminster City Council asking phone companies to disallow incoming calls to phone booths.
20-Feb-05	Confessions of the world's most successful madam	Telegraph Andrew Alderson	Interview with Margaret McDonald after her release from prison. Former escort turned "madam"
22-Feb-05	Red-Light trade threatens to get green light	Bournefree News Henry Walls	Boscombe Salvation Army plans for prostitute Drop-in Centre. Protestors want more suitable location.
22-Feb-05	Prostitute centre proposal causes outrage	Bournefree News Amy Louise Funston
23-Feb-05	Helping those exploited for sex	London Bulletin
25-Feb-05	Red-light shame of deputy head	Yorkshire Post Emma Dunlop	John Hurst, deputy head of St Martin's CoE Primary School convicted of kerb-crawling
MARCH
04-Mar-05	Two found guilty of assaulting prostitute	This is Bristol Geoff Bennett	Bristol Luke Hayward and Daniel Perrett found guilty of assault after dragging prostitute Joanna Thomas alongside a moving car.
14-Mar-05	'Sex workers out' demand residents	Streatham Guardian	Streatham Hill Brindley House Resident's Petition
18-Mar-05	Residents win fight to keep prostitute-free zone	Bournefree News Reem Nada	Boscombe Salvation Army dropped plans for prostitute Drop-in Centre.
22-Mar-05	Judge's pledge on kerb-crawl menace	Liverpool Echo Mike Hornby	Liverpool Judge David Fletcher crack down on kerb crawling. Johns named. Driver's licenses revoked, etc.
24-Mar-05	Post special exposes city's 'booming' sex economy	Hold the Front Page Luke Woolliscroft	Bristol Post's Saturday magazine Seven investigated Bristol's sex economy
24-Mar-05	Prostitution 'becoming a steady, unionised job' (subscription)	The Independent Robert Verkaik	Sex Work, a Risky Business Teela Sanders - University of Leeds
24-Mar-05	Regulated prostitution becomes a reality	Personnel Today Dan Thomas
APRIL
01-Apr-05	Notorious massage parlour faces the axe http://hamhighbroadway.london24.net/broadway/ news/story.aspx?brand=NorthLondon24&category= Newsbroadway&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory= newsbroadway&itemid=WeED01 Apr 2005 11:17:22:503	Ham and High Broadway	Crouch End Hill Lanacombe (Massage Parlour) Madam: Josephine Daly Note: See Guardian Article Sept. 29, 2000
05-Apr-05	Kerb crawlers dig deep to change	BBC News Jamie Thompson	Day long programme for men arrested for kerb crawling. Only 3 out of 400 participants re-arrested.
13-Apr-05	'Sex map' slated by town's Bishop	Stockport Express	Greater Manchester Right Rev Nigel Stock, Bishop of Stockport, has called a map published by George McCoy which points punters to "hot-spots" "de-humanising".
14-Apr-05	Brothel attack: Youth in court: Wimbledon teenager faces charges of raping prostitute	Wimbledon Guardian	17 year old in court. Sexual assault with pistol and then rape. Violent gang rape of "foreign sex worker". (Note: Is there an investigation into immigration status of victim?)
14-Apr-05	Madam guilty	This Is Hertfordshire Alex Galbinski	North Finchley Brothels: Finchley Follies, Lucindas, Whetstone Wenches Simon de Freitas, former Metro police officer passed police info to girlfriend, brothel owner Linda Stanton.
18-Apr-05	Sex comes out of the city into middle England	The Guardian David Smith, Tony Thompson and Gaby Hinsliff	Government ponders legalisation as explosion in prostitution sees number of sex workers rise by 50 per cent in five years to create £770m business
20-Apr-05	First ASBO tackling prostitution in Leeds	West Yorkshire Police Press Release	Leeds First Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) for prostitution resulting from a criminal case issued to prostitute.
21-Apr-05	Duncan Smith slams red light zone	BBC News	Liverpool Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has condemned plans for Liverpool's prostitution tolerance zone
27-Apr-05	Decriminalise prostitution, nurses urge	Guardian John Carvel	The Royal College of Nursing has called on the government to decriminalise prostitution.
28-Apr-05	Teenage ‘daisy chain’ sex alert	Times Online Nigel Hawkes and Sam Lister	Royal College of Nursing’s annual congress report: problems encountered from playground sexual crazes to the repercussions of sexual abuse, prostitution, drug use and self-harm.
30-Apr-05	London Brothel Accused of Recruiting Kenyan Girls	East African Standard Gitau Wa Njenga	London 32 yr. old woman owner of brothel - false advertisements on community website.
MAY
03-May-05	Freedom for Thai sex slave women	icSurreyOnline	Police raided a Sutton brothel on April 22, 2005. Found Thai sex slaves and uncovered information about a sophisticated prostitution gang.
04-May-05	Council chief jailed for sex crimes against girl, 14	The Scotsman Emily Pennink	Brent Keith Gosling, former director of highways and emergency planning at Brent Council, 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. Posted photos taken with his cell photo onto a website.
05-May-05	Brothel case policeman is jailed	BBC News	London Simon DeFreitas sentenced to 6 months. Brothel owner Linda Stanton sentenced to community service. See: "Madam Guilty" April 14, 2005
	Shamed brothel cop jailed	Lifestyle Extra
	Vice cop jailed over files	The Sun
08-May-05	Abduction fear over murdered girl	BBC News	Reading Mary-Ann Leneghan (16) murdered and friend (18) seriously injured. Police believe they were abducted by at least 6 men, assaulted and both left for dead in park. (Note: Articles regarding Mary-Ann are included due to police inquiry into massage parlour possibly linked to case. To date there have been inferences, but no news articles claiming she worked as a prostitute.)
11-May-05	Mary-Ann: two 'significant' arrests	itv.com	Reading Police raided the 263 Club, a massage parlour brothel on Oxford St. in Reading as part of investigation into murder of Mary-Ann Leneghan. Mary-Ann was injected with heroin, raped, stabbed and dumped in a park. Police believe the massage parlour and a flat above were linked to the killing. (Note: Articles regarding Mary-Ann are included 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.)
	Park girl killing: 2 arrested	The Sun Neil Syson
	Flat searched in Mary-Ann inquiry	icWales
19-May-05	Six in court on Mary-Ann murder charge	Reuters	Reading Mary-Ann Leneghan
24-May-05	Pimp forced his teenage rape victim into sex slavery - Court http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4597923	The Scotsman Melvyn Howe	Illegal Albanian immigrant, Agrol Xhabri 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.
25-May-05	Police criticised for leaving pimp to rape girl	Guardian Vikram Dodd
25-May-05	£12,000-a-week madam found guilty	BBC News	London Brothel madam, Ann O'Brien, 32, convicted at Southwark Crown Court of four counts of controlling prostitution. She was the lynchpin in a trafficking trade involving hundreds of women from eastern Europe.
27-May-05	Brothel empire made millions http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/londonnews /articles/18915043?source=Evening Standard	Evening Standard Oliver Finegold Justin Davenport
28-May-05	Discreet madam who went from market stall to Mayfair mansion	Times Online Daniel McGrory	London Anne O’Brien "sex empire"
28-May-05	How Kenyan woman built sex empire	The Standard	London Anne O’Brien "sex empire"
JUNE
07-Jun-05	Big Brother 6: Mary job in brothel http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2004240000-2005260342,00.html	The Sun	Mary O'Leary, contestant on Big Brother TV reality show worked in brothel and as a lapdancer
22-Jun-05	Brothel Madam Is Spared Prison - But Stripped of Wealth	The Scotsman Melvyn Howe	London Ann O'Brien given 180 hours community service and 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."
22-Jun-05	Brothel madam who netted £1.2m walks free from court	Life Style Extra
JULY
04-Jul-05	Massage parlour girls flee crazed knifeman	ic South London	Loot Knife attack by Timothy Hjertum Trial continues.
AUGUST
05-Aug-05	Massage parlour clears its name	Ham & High Broadway Jonathan Marciano	Crouch End Lanacombe Editorial Licence renewed after police objections withdrawn. Police inquiry re: prostitution 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 - women smuggled from Thailand and Eastern Europe
17-Aug-05	Man on prostitute murder charge	BBC News	Ronald Beardmore, married father of two, accused of beating young prostitute, Rebecca Stephenson (age 19), to death and hiding her body. Beardmore visited a lap dancing club before being seen with the victim.
17-Aug-05	Sauna's illicit past is history	Ham & High Broadway David Gibbs	Crouch End Lanacombe Manager Laurence Steel - Lanacombe now bona fide massage parlour with trained therapists. New company has nothing to do with Josephine Daly.
SEPTEMBER
07-Sep-05	Massage parlour probe by police	Tameside Advertiser	Denton Pinks (part of the Hotspots massage parlour chain whose website advertises dungeons, ‘two and three girl experiences’ and the fact they promote ‘safe sex’) Police investigating following a meeting between local residents and MP Andrew Gwynne. Findings sent to police and UK immigration service. (Note: was trafficking suspected?)
12-Sep-05	Why porn is the new glamour	New Statesman Kira Cochrane	"The possibility of a career in the sex industry has been embraced by a generation of gullible young women, not just as a viable option but a genuinely attractive one."
18-Sep-05	Mummy, I want to be a porn star	Sunday Times Kira Cochrane	"Pornography is becoming so acceptable in Britain that even teenage girls see it as a career"
19-Sep-05	Students tempted by easy money jobs in sex trade	Leeds Today Paul Jeeves	"A new poll reveals that a shocking 15 per cent of female students heading to the city could be more than ready to work in the sex trade in order to fund their studies."
30-Sep-05	Police free 19 in massage parlour raid	ITN	Birmingham Cuddles Massage Parlour Early morning raid freed women from Latvia, Japan, Hong Kong, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Poland. 40-year-old English woman and three men, whose ages were not immediately released, were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the management of prostitution. The women's passports had been taken, and that they were locked into the massage parlour at night and kept captive in a house during the day.
	'Sex slaves' rescued in massage parlour raid	Telegraph
	Sex Trafficking: Amnesty welcomes Birmingham police crackdown, but UK must do more to protect victims	Amnesty Press Statement
OCTOBER
01-Oct-05	Foreign sex slaves freed in dramatic police raid	Scotsman Tara Fawcett	Birmingham 19 women from 10 countries (east Europe, Italy, Turkey and east Asia) are under police protection after Sept. 29th raid on Birmingham massage parlour. Women held against their will behind locked doors and electric fence and it is believed they were tricked into the UK by job offers as nannies or waitresses. Passports confiscated etc. Details of raid given.
01-Oct-05	Police free sex trade women in raid on massage parlour	Guardian Steven Morris
05-Oct-05	Home Office defers expulsion of women held in brothel raid	Guardian Audrey Gillan Julie Bindel	Birmingham Cuddles Massage Parlour Six of the 19 women rescued by police from "Cuddles" brothel in Birmingham (see above) were due to be removed from the UK by immigration but had their expulsion deferred following pressure from campaigners. Human rights lawyers were refused access to the women, who were being held in Yarlswood detention centre in Bedfordshire on the grounds that they were not victims of trafficking and were in the country illegally.
12-Oct-05	Police make brothel rape arrest	Hemelhempstead Today	18 yr. old man arrested re: knife-point rape of 3 women by gang of Eastern European men at massage parlour in Adyfield. Cash and mobile phones stolen. Same gang believe responsible for similar incident at massage parlour in Watford on Sept. 15 - 2 women threatened at knifepoint.
13-Oct-05	Focus on Vice Trade	West Yorkshire Police Press Release	West Yorkshire Police operation targeting "every aspect" of the vice industry. Aiming to encourage sex workers into treatment, outreach workers sent to Holbeck More area (25 currently receiving treatment), 10 "drug dens" closed, 6 people issued ABCs for soliciting, 3 involved in drug dealing/pimping arrested. Holbeck Police successfully battling kerb crawlers - 70 ABC's issued to date. 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.
NOVEMBER
Nov 05	Met cracks prostitution and trafficking ring	Met Police Bulletin	The Metropolitan Police uncovered seven brothels in west London during the hunt for a missing 16-year-old Lithuanian girl. Investigation exposed sex trafficking gang. Five men to be sentenced.
09-Nov-05	The word on the streets	Guardian Mark Gould	"Official statistics show that 60 prostitutes have been murdered in the UK on the last 10 years. A controversial new self-help guide offers advice to sex workers on surviving life in red light districts. "
12-Nov-05	My daughter’s killer must never be freed	Norwich Evening News	Norwich 56-year-old traveller "Stanley" received two life sentences, one for murdering Hayley Curtis, 23 yr. Old Norwich prostitute, and for five serious attacks on former partner Fiance Richards.
13-Nov-05	Red light tour condemned as 'sick'	Observer Gemma Bowes	Tour operator Thomas Cook launching tours to see prostitutes in Amsterdam's red light district. The night-time excursions include a briefing about the 'system' from a former prostitute and are open to children of any age.
16-Nov-05	Town studies 'control zone' for vice girls	Yorkshire Post Today Paul Whitehouse	Doncaster Doncaster Council has conducted a study into six areas where a "managed zone" for prostitutes could be created. Research took place 6 months ago and to date no action has been taken.
17-Nov-05	Landlords offering 'lodgings for sex'	Community Care	A major national children's charity says that young people placed in B&B's are being targeted by landlords with histories as pimps. It has dealt with 4 claims of rape in recent weeks. Landlords also targeting kids on streets.
18-Nov-05	Sex worker's fear for foreigners	BBC News	Cardiff "Louise", a prostitute working in Cardiff has spoken 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.
19-Nov-05	Massage parlour victim is named	BBC News	London 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.
19-Nov-05	Appeal over massage parlour murder	This is London
DECEMBER
01-Dec-05	Twice as many men paying for sex	BBC News	UK research shows that the number of men paying women for sex has nearly doubled in a decade. Surveys of 11,000 British adults in 1990 and 2000 found the rate increased from one in 20 to nearly one in 10 men. Rising divorce rates, sex tourism and increasing availability of commercial sex are blamed.
03-Dec-05	Why would men not pay for sex?	Times Online Janice Turner	Lad magazines / prostitution
09-Dec-05	Sex workers ‘should not be given Asbos’ http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/content/hamhigh/news/ story.aspx?brand=NorthLondon24&category=Newshamhigh &tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newshamhigh&itemid= WeED08 Dec 2005 18:31:11:687	Ham & High 24 Marijke Peters	Editorial Anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) to prostitutes
15-Dec-05	Gossip led to PC's wife being exposed as brothel madam	IcWales Paul Carey	Swansea / Haverfordwest Brothel madam: Julie Hyett Welsh constable: John Thomas
23-Dec-05	Decision in New Year on Liverpool's call for prostitution zone	Daily Post	Liverpool Managed prostitution zone
26-Dec-05	Pointing way out from life on the street	Nottingham Evening Post	Prostitutes Outreach Workers project
28-Dec-05	Blair in crackdown on prostitution	icScotland	Zero tolerance campaign against kerb crawlers and prostitutes will be launched in January 2006. Plans to legalise prostitution with official red light districts have been ditched.
29-Dec-05	Minister drops plan for sex zones	Yorkshire Post Paul Whitehouse
	New crackdown on prostitution	Sheffield Today
	U-turn as Labour drops plan for legal red-light districts	Calibre MacroWorld*
	Zero tolerance vice vow	The Sun Online George Pascoe-Watson