27 July 2023 , 14:39
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Police in Suella Braverman’s constituency are investigating dozens of sex trafficking allegations after an MP turned detective to expose how “pimping websites” operate in plain sight.
Dame Diana Johnson reported more than 70 online sex adverts to Hampshire Police - which serves the Home Secretary's Fareham patch - after spotting ‘red flags’ suggesting links to trafficking gangs.
She has accused “adult services” site VivaStreet of allowing victims to be raped “multiple times a day” and told The Mirror it is "deeply disturbing" that she found so many suspicious cases in just minutes.
Home Office officials have met VivaStreet representatives 15 times in the past five years - but Dame Diana said there is "no clear evidence" this had led to more traffickers being locked up. She has accused law enforcement agencies of “cosying up” to "pimping websites".
The Labour MP, who chairs the influential Home Affairs Select Committee - which is investigating human trafficking - said she had scanned ads for sex services on the nationwide site in Ms Braverman’s constituency as well as her own, Kingston upon Hull North.
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She was alarmed to discover around 90 ads showing "tell-tale signs of trafficking", and reported them to Hampshire and Humberside police. Both forces told The Mirror they are looking into the adverts.
Watch Dame Diana making the allegations against Vivastreet in the Commons this month
Dame Diana said: “It is deeply disturbing that simply through a short review of advertisements on VivaStreet, I was quickly able to identify adverts containing the tell-tale signs of trafficking."
She said evidence shown to the committee - which will produce a report and recommendations later this year - show such sites are a "major enabler of sex trafficking". And she added: "The websites concentrate and centralise demand from sex buyers online, making it quick and easy for traffickers to connect with men across the country who will pay to sexually abuse the victims."
Dame Diana said that despite the meetings between Home Office officials and adult services sites, the committee "has not yet seen any evidence" that trafficking on "pimping websites" has reduced as a result.
She added there is "no clear evidence that it has enabled more prosecutions and locked up more traffickers".
The Labour grandee has been a vocal critic of VivaStreet and similar services, telling the Commons earlier this month that there is currently "industrial scale sexual exploitation". And she told MPs that platforms like VivaStreet "allow women to be raped multiple times a day".
To prove her point, Dame Diana trawled through adverts linked to Ms Braverman's constituency before the Home Secretary appeared before her committee last month.
Dame Diana Johnson has reported dozens of suspicious adverts to police (jaharland)Signs of sex trafficking include adverts for multiple women with the same phone number, numerous ads with exactly the same text and stating a woman is "only in town for a week". A separate Mirror investigation discovered the same thing, and examples were put to VivaStreet.
A Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police spokesman said: "We are cross referencing the research provided against our own records to ensure we are not missing any opportunities to safeguard or target the exploiters."
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Detective Chief Inspector Ross Toms said the force is "acutely aware" of the risks sex workers face and said it targets the "organised crime groups exploiting them". He added: "We have a rolling operation to target those exploiting sex workers on adult websites such as VivaStreet, which is routinely reviewed."
Meanwhile Humberside Police’s Head of Crime, Chief Superintendent Simon Gawthorpe said: “We are aware of Dame Diana Johnson’s concerns relating to Adult Services websites (ASWs) and the potential links to human trafficking, nationally. This is something we have been monitoring closely since 2020, when websites of this nature became more prominent in our local community."
Covert operations, he said, have resulted in six arrests and two men charged with Human Trafficking offences in recent weeks.
Watch Dame Diana accusing law enforcers of 'cosying up' to pimping websites
Ms Braverman, appearing before the Home Affairs Committee, acknowledged that there is a link between adult services sites and sex trafficking, branding it “totally unacceptable”.
The Home Office has denied cosying up with the site, saying its meeting with VivaStreet were to "raise awareness" of sexual exploitation, explore "a set of voluntary principles" and discuss measures in the forthcoming Online Safety Bill.
A spokeswoman said: “We recognise that adult services websites can be an enabler for sexual exploitation which is why we committed in the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy to work with them to explore a set of voluntary principles to counter exploitation on their sites.
“Online platforms need to prevent their sites from being used by criminals – and the Online Safety Bill will place a duty on them to tackle illegal activity and swiftly remove content.”
Robert Jones, director of threat leadership at the National Crime Agency, told MPs last month(JUNE): "We are hamstrung by a lack of legislation, a lack of regulation and a wild west on the internet. That is what we need to sort out."
In answers to the committee, VivaStreet said it had received 693 requests for information from police forces, and made a further 1,061 proactive referrals based on risk assessments.
It said that shutting down its site and similar services would "simply displace" the market, making it "much harder to track and disrupt".
A Vivastreet spokeswoman said: “Sex work is legal in the UK, and as the national policing guidance makes clear, the vast majority of adverts on adult services websites (ASWs) are placed by independent sex workers.
“Vivastreet works closely with police forces across the country to detect and report potential exploitation, and we support calls for better regulation, to compel other sites to provide the same cooperation.
“As experts such as the National Crime Agency have made clear to the select committee, banning ASWs would not remove risks of exploitation, but would simply displace it further into encrypted messaging services and social media, where it is much harder to track and disrupt, and presents a higher level of risk for sex workers.”
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