sex slave hell
‘I was forced to work as a secret prostitute in a Nottingham flat for four years – and slept with 7,000 British men’
Stephanie was promised a better life by the people who trafficked her - but instead she was forced into prostitution
HEARING heavy footsteps coming up the stairs, Stephanie hoped it wouldn't be her door handle that turned this time.
If her door opened, she knew it would be one of the five or so men a day she was expected to sleep with against her will.
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The 33-year-old had come to the UK from her home country, Nigeria, six months earlier on the promise of getting a job as a receptionist in a city office.
But when she was picked up from Heathrow Airport, she was bundled into a rusty van and driven three hours to Nottingham - where she was locked up in a brothel and forced to have sex with over 7,000 men over four years.
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One in 10 British men has used a prostitute, and in 2018 there were 1,931 referrals of sex slavery to the National Crime Agency - 1,726 of these were female.
These modern slaves live amongst us unnoticed - locked in secret brothels hidden in houses on British streets.
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While finally free and living in Birmingham, Stephanie, now 46, endured eight years of slavery in total.
She was only entitled to 45 days of help from the government before she was made homeless and is still seeking asylum.
The Sun's Stamp Out Slavery campaign, in conjunction with the Co-op, is calling for this period of time to be extended so that victims like Stephanie have more time to recover and rebuild their lives.
She tells Sun Online: “I’ve been through hell. I don't trust anybody now."
Plied with booze and forced into prostitution
Before being trafficked to the UK in 2006 at the age of 33, Stephanie lived in Lagos, Nigeria.
When a man from her local church offered to pay for her flight to the UK, where he promised she could get an office job, she jumped at the chance.
She says: “I felt excited, but also a bit scared. The girls I’d travelled over with were taken somewhere else from the airport, so I was on my own - that's when I realised something was wrong."
She was taken in the back of a van to a flat in Nottingham from the airport.
When she arrived, she was shown to a room covered in thick black damp wallpaper, with nothing but a dirty mattress on the floor.
Exhausted from the journey, she fell asleep.
The Sun wants to Stamp out Slavery
Slavery takes a variety of forms, but most commonly forced labour, sexual exploitation, domestic work or forced criminal activity.
The Home Office estimated that there are 13,000 people held in slavery in the UK, with the Global Slavery Index suggesting the figure could be as many as 136,000.
The UK recognised a staggering 5,145 victims from 116 countries in 2017, including adults who had been used for organ harvesting and children that were forced into sexual exploitation.
At present, trafficked victims have just 45 days government support after being recognised as a victim. Campaigners and businesses say this is not enough time for victims to find a place to live and means to support themselves so they risk becoming homeless and destitute.
We want the government to:
Back Lord McColl's proposed bill, which suggests all victims of modern slavery should be given a year to recover, and alongside that they should be given special support to help them, including housing benefits, financial support and other services.
Stephanie says: “No one told me what was going to happen but the next morning I heard voices in the hallway. I was too scared to come out of my room but knew something was going on.
“Suddenly my door was opened and a man came in and shut the door behind him."
Unbeknown to Stephanie, she had been trafficked into a brothel - where four other girls were already working - and this was the first of thousands of clients she'd be forced to sleep with over the next four years.
"It happened daily," she tells us. "Sometimes more than five men would visit me a day and pay my mistress afterwards.
"She gave me and the other girls there alcohol, and dealt with all the money so I had no money of my own.
"I was threatened. She said if I didn’t do what the men wanted I’d be sent back home, but there was nothing there for me. I was so scared.”
In 2010, Stephanie saw her chance to escape. She says: “I was allowed out to go to the shops, but I was monitored.
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“One day I got lucky. I went to the shops and I came across a kind woman. I told her I needed to get a train as some people were coming after me and she gave me £50.”
Stephanie seized the opportunity and got the first train to London - but when she got there, she didn't know what to do and ended up sleeping in a shop doorway for the first few nights.
She says: “I ended up being homeless for over two years, begging and sleeping on night buses or trains - wherever I could."
Eventually Stephanie got housed in a refuge by Women’s Aid, and is now supported by the Sophie Hayes Foundation, who are campaigning for further support for victims of modern slavery.
Now, Stephanie is in temporary accommodation and has had counselling to deal with the trauma.
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She says: “I don’t trust people at all. I’m seeking asylum now. I’m unable to work but I’m in college and want to train to be an accountant.
"I feel better, because I’ve finally got real help. I’ve gone through a lot but I’m positive about the future.”
Stolen virginity
Tragically Stephanie's harrowing story is far from rare.
Just last month, Romanian model Helena told how she was tricked into coming to the UK for work but was trafficked into prostitution and forced to have sex against her will for a decade.
She was tricked into working in a pop-up brothel and warned if she didn't follow orders her family would be killed.
Every night, she would be forced to have sex with multiple strangers who would pay £120 an hour -which was quickly pocketed by her gangland bosses.
She was also forced to pose for sexy pictures which were used to advertise her services.
In 2016, two more teenage girls were rescued after being forced to live in squalor by a Romanian gang in Preston.
They had been promised work as chambermaids but when they arrived they quickly realised they were expected to work as prostitutes.
HELP STAMP OUT SLAVERY
Want to help? Here are some of the possible warning signs to look for, according to the Modern Slavery Helpline:
- Domestic slaves may be held in their employer's home and forced to carry out tasks such as childcare, cooking and cleaning
- They may not be allowed to leave the house on their own, or they may be monitored
- The person may work long working hours
- They may not have access to their own belongings, such as a mobile phone or their own ID
- The employer may be abusive, both physically and verbally
- The person may not interact often with the family they are employed by
- A domestic slave may be deprived of their own personal living space, food, water or medical care
- They may wear poorer quality clothing compared to other family members
Suspicious? You can call the Modern Slavery Helpline on 08000 121 700, or fill in an online report at:
Their rooms just consisted of a bed, and they were threatened with violence and told their families would be hurt if they tried to run away.
Police finally raided the property after someone tweeted to say they'd seen underage girls working there.
Marius Petre, Adrian Matei and Ionut Ion were all found guilty of offences relating to human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
Speaking about the ordeal, one of the victims said: “They were telling us to come with them to work in hotels as maids.
“After we arrived he took us aside and told us that what we were expecting wasn't real, but that we'd work as prostitutes and have clients.
“At first I refused and said, 'I don’t want to do that’, but then because I was quite afraid for him not to beat me up I said 'OK.'”
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In 2012, brother and sister Ionot Nicolea and Vasillica Tirei were jailed jailed for a total of 19 years after forcing a Romanian student into prostitution in Birmingham.
The 24-year-old - who spoke little English so couldn't ask for help - was threatened with a gun and raped by clients in a terraced house over a period of seven weeks - even losing her virginity during the ordeal.
Tricked and locked in a basement
Speaking to The Sun Online Emilie Martin, from , says: "The majority of cases referred to us for specialist support are people who have been sexually exploited.
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"One Nigerian lady we came across ran a highly successful business over there and came to the UK on a business trip organised by someone she considered to be her friend who had offered to help her network in the UK.
";On arrival at Heathrow she was picked up and taken to a house in south London, locked in a basement room where she was sold for sex for months. She had been tricked, trapped and then traded.
“It shows how anyone could fall prey to being exploited as modern slavery is a very lucrative crime so it is worth a trafficker grooming someone for many months and convincing them that they are a friend.”
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While it might sound like something that could never happen to you, the truth is traffickers and slave gangs are well-trained at picking on people's vulnerabilities.
Emilie continues: “The reality is that anyone could be a victim - there just needs to be some kind of vulnerability that a trafficker can exploit.
"The more usual vulnerabilities which traffickers prey on are poverty, debt, lack of family networks or mental health, substance or alcohol misuse issues."
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