murdered woman, former Soho sex worker

I have found the name of the woman who was murdered after she was forced to leave the safety of a Soho walk up. Her name was Elizabeth Valad. The information below comes from this site.

The anger among the Soho sex workers, which many describe as unprecedented, has come to a head over the issuing of a compulsory purchase order by Westminster council on a property in which a number of them ply their trade.

The council says prostitution is a "blight on the local environment" and that it wishes to return the building to residential use. The women suspect the only benefits will go to property developers but what is of more urgent concern is the threat to their own safety if they are forced onto the streets.

Irene, a Soho sex worker, was a friend of Elizabeth Valad, one of the prostitutes whose body parts were found in discarded bin bags in North London over the New Year.

"Liz was working in Windmill Street before Christmas until she was forced out when the building was closed. She left for King's Cross and look at the consequences. Two other Soho girls have been murdered elsewhere in recent years - and they're just the ones we know about."

She was also known as Liz or Lizzie Valad. She worked in Peter Street in Soho I have been told.

interesting research into cocaine and prostitution

If you go here http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/MeetingAbstracts/ma?f=102197200.html you can see some interesting research to do with cocaine use among different groups of prostitutes, including escorts. I have emboldened the most interesting parts.

OBJECTIVE: To determine patterns of cocaine use in relation to HIV risks. METHODS: Two groups of prostitutes were interviewed about drug use: 86 participants in a clinic study of HIV/STD risk (gp.A); 64 participants in a non-clinic study on the streets of West London (gp.B). Follow-up interviews were conducted with a sub-group of 46 clinic attenders (gp.A1) about cocaine use in relation to sexual behaviour. RESULTS: In a standardised interview of risk behaviour, 50 of 86 women (58%) in gp.A reported ever using cocaine. Twenty-nine (34%) reported current use (past 3 months); 6 of these reported use of freebase cocaine/crack. In gp.A1, 19 of 46 women (41%) reported current use of cocaine, 14 at work and 6 of these only ever at work. Cocaine use was reported by women working on the streets and in hotels, through escort agencies and madames, in flats and saunas and through private referral. Reports suggest an increase during 1989 in cocaine-bookings (where cocaine use is a condition of commercial sex). Two of 23 women reported unsafe sex exclusively in association with cocaine-bookings. In gp.B, 15 of 64 women (23%) reported current cocaine use, of whom 12 used freebase cocaine or crack. CONCLUSION: Cocaine use is common in all types of prostitution and reportedly increasing at work in relation to client demand, where it may be associated with HIV risks. In these groups, crack use cannot be analysed independently since the terms freebase and crack were interchangeable and reportedly linked with other forms of cocaine use in all cases. These results indicate a different pattern of cocaine use in the London sex industry at the current time than that reported elsewhere.

This research is saying that all types of prostitues - including high-class prostitutes - are likely to be using cocaine. No one is surprised that street girls use cocaine or crack cocaine, but many will be surprised that escorts do too. I am not sure what 'cocaine-bookings' are, I will try to find out more about this.

feral girl

Last week I went to Tooting Bec Common. I wanted to go into Streatham anyway and I thought I would just sit and read my newspaper. I didn't expect to see any girls there, but one came and sat next to me. She was quite young. She was shabby and was wearing lots of make-up inexpertly applied.

I didn't want to have sex with her. She was quite miserable looking. Usually street girls on the Common are quite friendly and chatty, but she was different. I tried to talk to her, but she seemed distracted.

She wanted me to have sex with her. I said I didn't want to do that and she said "Am I not pretty enough?". She mumbled it and I had to ask her to repeat herself. I said that it wasn't that, I was short of money. She asked me how much money I had. I said I would rather not say because I wasn't there for sex that day.

Perhaps she would have had sex with me for the change I had in my pocket. I don't know. She asked for some change so I gave some to her just to help her out. The last thing I saw of her she was walking away from me and counting the money. I hope she spent it on food.

Just before she went off I asked her what her name was and she said 'Teresa'. I said "I used to know a girl called Teresa". I remembered that once a few years ago I fingered a girl called Teresa on the Common, and that later I had regreted it because she seemed so unhappy about it, unlike the other girls I have done it to.

I have written about this incident on this blog in December 2007. The Teresa then had been wearing a short skirt and had long hair. I'm not sure if the girl I met last week was the same girl. I did not recognise her, but then I only met her once about four years ago. Memories can fade and people can change their appearance. She did ask me for a light for a cigarette, and the girl I met several years ago had done the same.

Teresa seems to fit the description of what most people think a street girl would be like. She looked unhappy, depressed and with no confidence. It's almost as if she thought she did not deserve better in life. I wonder if she does heroin but not crack and if this accounts for her different demeanour.

If I saw her again I would offer to buy her something to eat. I could take her into Streatham to a cafe for a meal. I did this a few years ago with another street girl called Debbie. I would ask her about her life. I would not try to have sex with her.

What they often need is somewhere to live (like a hostel to begin with), a methadone script and getting onto benefits. Before that rehab. I could point her in the right direction, as I would any woman I met on the Common or in my neighbourhood.

I remember that when a few years ago I asked a street girl which other street girls I should avoid, she had given me Teresa's name, among others. So I don't know what Teresa has been up to; perhaps if I had gone with her into the bushes she would have robbed me.

the real Belle de Jour writer and drugs

In today's Evening Standard (London local free paper) it gives the real name of the writer of Belle de Jour. Her name is Brooke Magnanti. It says her father was a crack addict and spent a lot of time with prostitutes. She met some of them, and it doesn't sound as if they were street girls. He seems to blame his association with them for him becoming a drug addict.

So drugs are not just part of the world of street girls, they are also part of the world of Belle de Jour. A man who uses a high-class escort cannot be sure that his money is not being used to buy cocaine or crack cocaine. He cannot be sure that he is not going to get done under the new law.

concerns about safety of prostitutes

I found some interesting information on the internet relating to the subject of my last post. I have copy-and-pasted it below, and given the URL.

Sex workers in Soho and elsewhere are facing massive raids, arrests, detention, eviction, deportation, and are being forced out of flats onto the street where it is 10 times more dangerous to work. Three women who were driven from Soho premises by eviction have been tragically murdered in recent years, one of them in late 2002.

http://www.prostitutescollective.net/lapdancing.htm

more Vice Squad in Soho

After two weeks Vice Squad was back on Five last night. There was more about Soho walk ups. As with last week there was something about kerb crawlers in east London (probably Whitechapel) but I had no particular interest in that. Although this blog started and continues with the issue of street girls, I have no experience of the world of kerb crawling. I don't have a car.

A Soho bobby on the beat told us that men are often mugged on the stairs of Soho walk ups. I have never had this experience but then I don't go to Soho at night. He explained that there are about 100 women in walk up flats in Soho. There are about 50 flats. Each doorway usually leads to two flats on upper floors.

Two of the prostitutes and their maids were interviewed. Both of the prostitutes were from Albania. I did not recognize either of them. Gina said she came to London with the assistance of her friend who was a prostitute. She did different jobs to begin with, but decided to become a prostitute because London is such an expensive city to live in.

She said that she has about 25 customers per day and makes between £200 and £300 a day. I assume this is after she has paid rent on the flat and other overheads. Each customer pays a minimum of £20. Her maid Rita explained her role, which includes protecting the girl from any possible violence.

The other prostitute, Samantha, said that for her it's just work, she has a family to support and bills to pay. Her maid Janet said that women in walk ups work for themselves, there are no pimps. They look after themselves and there are no drugs. They are doing it to make their lives better.

The narrator explained that the days of Soho walk ups could be numbered. There is new legislation that could ban them. One of the women said that this would put them on the streets where they would be less safe. In the walk ups they are protected.

I agree that it would be a tragedy if the Soho walk ups were all closed. I am not saying this because I like to go to them. Many women will be harmed if the new legislation goes ahead.

I have started a Yahoo group for readers of this blog if they wish to discuss issues and share information. People can still leave comments on each post if they wish, but I will reply to comments on the group. The blog is about the less expensive forms of prostitution, which could be Soho walk ups or could be street girls. I have called the group Punternot because I want people to be free to discuss issues that would not be allowed on the Punternet forum, such as street girls, but also things like your favourite internet porn site. The Punternet site abhor the desire of Harriet Harman to censor it, but they do censor many people's views. I will not censor sincerely-held views but I will moderate out any snarking.

This is the URL of the group. You will need to create a Yahoo identity if you don't already have one.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/punternot/

Vice Squad in Soho

You may have seen the documentary on Five about the work of the Metropolitan Police Vice Unit in Soho. It was on Thursday (24 September 2009) at 9 pm. They started with something about a clip joint and ended with something about two under-age girls out drinking. Neither of these items was to do with prostitution. It was in the middle part of the programme that they showed some Soho walk-ups and this was what interested me and may interest readers of this blog.

I learned that technically these Soho walk-ups are not brothels. A walk-up is legal if only one woman works from the premises. The walk-ups shown in the programme were in Lisle Street and Greek Street. The one in Greek Street is the one that I have mentioned previously in this blog.

They interviewed a young woman from Romania called Amy. I saw Amy once this year and twice last year. This was before I decided to see the two older women who work at the same place. Amy said that she had come to Britain and began working in prostitution. She did not say if she had been trafficked into the country. Romania is now part of the EU and Romanians here are not illegal immigrants. She did not say if she had been deceived by anyone organizing her movement to Britain. It has been said that traffickers tell women that they will work in a normal job, and it is only after they get here that they are expected to work in prostitution.

Amy said that she was working as a prostitute somewhere where she was not happy. She was not making enough money for herself there, and so after a couple of months she found 8 Greek Street and was told by a woman she could start work there. She did not say that she had a problem leaving the place were she was before. It has been said that traffickers tell the women that they have to repay debts of thousands of pounds. One of the police officers said that one of the women working at 8 Greek Street had said that she earns a thousand pounds a day. The officer said that because sex costs just £20 they must be getting a lot of customers. However, £20 is a minimum and many customers will be spending more than that.

I do believe, though, that there are places – in Soho and elsewhere – where women are suffering. I have mentioned in a previous post that there is somewhere else in Greek Street that was called the Slaughter House. I think I may have been there once but left before paying because I did not like the look of the place. There are only three walk-ups in Greek Street.

A couple of months ago I went to 11 Brewer Street. I went up the stairs, but when I saw that the women's names were not displayed I turned to leave. A woman came out of one of the flats onto the landing and tried to entice me in. This has never happened to me before. She was small and thin and looked like a refugee. When I said I wasn't interested she shouted a couple of swear words at me at the top of her voice, walked back into the flat and slammed the door loudly. I could tell that there were men further up the stairs.

I went onto the Crimestoppers website and I reported the place as a potential place of trafficked women. It's still open.

The reason why I don't go somewhere where the women's names are not displayed is that I can find the best ones using the PunterNet website. I can use PunterNet reports and the Soho thread in the PunterNet forum. I can take into account what they look like (I don't go for big-breasted blonde types), attitude, price and the services they provide. I would not want to be with a woman who is unhappy.

The most popular girl in Soho as I have said is Paris. She is from Essex, so there is no question of trafficking there. There are other British girls, like Ritzy. Lily, one of my two current favourites, is from the south of France. Ivy, my other current favourite is from the Philippines. I don't know if there is any trafficking from the Philippines but I do know that Ivy went on holiday to the Philippines for a few weeks recently. If she had been trafficked into Britain then she would not have been able to leave the country in the normal way. She would have to have been trafficked out of the country and trafficked back in again, which I don't think is very likely.

Vice Squad didn't find any trafficked women in their inspections, or any women who wanted to be rescued. I would have thought that if they had found illegal immigrants then they would have told us about them. They didn't find any pimps there either. It has been said that pimps take a lot of the money from Soho prostitutes. The only men who are probably making the money out of prostitution in Soho are the property owners, probably the Duke of somewhere-or-other like so much of inner London. Each prostitute has to hand over a couple of hundred pounds a day in rent.

I hope that some of the women save up some of their earnings and buy the property themselves. Then they don't have to pay rent to anyone. But I don't know if the Duke of somewhere-or-other would want to sell; maybe he knows what a good thing he's onto. I hope that older women who have made a career out of prostitution can help younger women who may not want to pursue it as a career but need to get money sometimes. I hope that Paris makes her fortune, the dirty little minx.

I'v got a couple of photos of Paris that you might like to see. I don't have any photos of any of the other girls in Soho, I got these from the internet.



The Vice Squad did find a girl who looked under-age but wasn't. They checked. So now every punter in London knows that if they want a girl who looks under-age but isn't, all they have to do is to go to Lisle Street. If you go on Google street level you can see the doorways shown on the programme. There are only 2 or 3 places in Lisle Street, and I don't think it is number 2.