Sex selling for £40

9:32am Monday 8th September 2008

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FULL sex can be bought for as little as £40 from prostitutes in the borough.

This figure was quoted to researchers who posed as punters to call brothels advertising adult and personal services in local newspapers.

A total of 24 brothels were identified in Bromley by Eaves, a charity which provides accommodation and support to trafficked women.

Co-author of the report Julie Bindell said that £40 is very low considering prostitutes themselves are unlikely to keep more than half.

She said: "This research is to show the public what really goes on in brothels."

Researchers for the charity's Poppy Project asked for prices, which for full sex ranged from £40 to £130, as well as details about the locations and the women who worked there.

Out of these, 12 brothels were located in residential flats and two in houses. One was located in a massage parlour while the locations of the rest were unknown.

There were a variety of services and options on offer including four brothels which offered french kissing as an extra and two which offered unprotected sex.

The 'punters' were offered prostitutes ranging in age from 19 to 35, described as eastern European, Asian, South American as well as English among others.

Helen Atkins, a researcher on the project, said: "It's worth noting that our research was focused purely on services which are advertised in the local print media.

"We didn't even look at online sources and so our findings are barely scratching the surface."

The study, which was carried out in each London borough, estimated that between £86m and £209.5m could be generated by the capital's brothel business from newspaper adverts.

In July, News Shopper made the decision to remove all adult service advertisements from its print and online publications to play its part in tackling people trafficking and sex slavery.