Legalisation: The Right Solution To Prostitution?

Eighteen months ago two young girls were reported missing by their worried families.

They were Tania Nicholl and Gemma Adams, sex workers from Ipswich.

In the following month their bodies and the bodies of three girls like them were found, strangled and dumped. The Suffolk town would never be the same again.

Today the East Anglian reported that, thanks to the work of the Police and local Community projects in Ipswich, there are now NO girls working on the streets of Ipswich.


I recently made a Radio Documentary about what has been done in there to eradicate prostitution. In light of today's news I wanted to share it with you:

The government are yet to consider the Prostitution clauses of the Criminal Justice and Immigration bill.

It’s a debate that attracts a lot of attention and could see the UK move to either decriminalise sex workers, or completely outlaw the industry.



So what did Ipswich do that worked so well?



But that's obviously not the ONLY way to deal with the issue. What else has been done around the world?



So what do you think? It's such a complicated issue but it's so important that we make our minds up and decide on a course of action to help these girls.




Genuinely, everyone I met when I was making this documentary really believed in what they are doing.

The girls that have been helped by the Iceni project had absolutely no hope in life. They were desperate, at absolute rock bottom. Suzannah would probably have gone the same way as her parents if she hadn't had Brian and Co. to save her.

What if it was you, your Mum, your sister, or your DAUGHTER? Wouldn't you want to do whatever you could to get them out of this life?

No girl WANTS to be in this life, so lets help them get out of it.

May it one day not even be an option.

Spotlight on Ipswich

I have been a bit distressed this week to see my rolling news board on this page has been filled with stories of Steve Wright.

The trial of the man accused of killing five prostitutes began on Monday and every news department in the country appears to have moved into Ipswich.

For the next eight weeks our humble town will provide the leading story for the whole world - if only it were for something happier, eh?

I am lucky enough to be on month long placement at Town 102 Radio in Ipswich at the moment and it is fascinating watching them handle this major incident.

What is interesting is the difference between the small local stations (like Town) and bigger national organisations.

BBC Look East had three reporters at the court yesterday - they even went as far as presenting the evening news from outside.

Our station had a lovely reporter down there - and then rushing back to work through her lunch break on other local stories.

It just seems an injustice to me that the local journalists who have been there from the beginning, who have held campaigns to make women in Ipswich safer, are missing out on the big interviews to news producers that would not normally give two hoots about Ipswich.

In time people will start to forget what has happened but Ipswich will be forever stained with the events, just as Soham was.

I have no doubt reports of Ipswich Town games will all start with the line: The atmosphere in the ground was sombre because of what was going on down the road...


Anyway, back to the real world - The Blues have Blackpool on Saturday and they still haven't been able to get Norris...

...I'm sorry but it's what I've been thinking about this week!