Crime and Policing Bill

Written evidence submitted by Alan Caton OBE to the House of Commons Committee on the Crime and Policing Bill (CPB36)

Executive summary

· As a Superintendent, I led Suffolk Constabulary’s response to the murders of five vulnerable women in 2006 by Steve Wright – a sex buyer.

· Suffolk’s transformative approach to prostitution, which involved supporting women to exit prostitution and having a zero-tolerance approach to men paying for sex on the streets of Ipswich, drastically reduced sexual exploitation in Suffolk.

· The success of the approach I led in Suffolk, combined with the intolerable consequences of continuing to allow sexual exploitation to take place in our towns and cities, is why I fully support amendments NC1, NC2 and NC3, which have been tabled by Tonia Antoniazzi MP.

· NC1 would criminalise third-party enablers and profiteers of prostitution, NC2 would criminalise paying for sex, and NC3 would decriminalise vulnerable women exploited through prostitution.

· I urge the Committee to accept amendments NC1, NC2 and NC3.

1. Introduction

1.1 I was a serving police officer with Suffolk Constabulary for over 30 years. During the winter months of December 2006, I was the Superintendent in charge of Ipswich. It was during that time that five vulnerable young women, namely Tania Nicholl, Gemma Adams, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls, were brutally murdered by Steve Wright - a self-confessed buyer of sex.

1.2 I am also a former Chairman of Islington, Central Bedfordshire and Luton Safeguarding Children Boards.

2. Sexual exploitation in Ipswich prior to December 2006

2.1 The investigation surrounding the murders committed by Steve Wright provided detailed knowledge to help us understand the problem of prostitution in Ipswich. It revealed that there were in excess of 107 women who were or had been involved in the on-street sex trade in Ipswich over a five-year period. This was many more than agencies had suspected. On any one night there could be up to 12 women soliciting on the streets in a small residential area of Ipswich. This activity often generated complaints from local residents and businesses, which would lead to police enforcement activity to remove the women from the streets. This enforcement activity did not address the wider problems associated with prostitution and certainly did not deter women from being on the streets in the long-term.

2.2 The evidence we uncovered also showed that women who were involved in prostitution did not freely make a choice to be there. They felt they had no other option, in most cases fuelled by drugs and coerced by ‘boyfriends’ or partners. Many of the women involved in street prostitution in Ipswich did not have access to housing, education or basic health services. Many of the women who had children had them taken into care. When asked, the vast majority of these women wanted to get out of prostitution. While in prostitution, they were subjected to regular abuse, violence and sexual assault.

2.3 Policing of prostitution prior to the murders in 2006 was inconsistent, with enforcement activity linked to complaints by businesses and local residents. There was no overarching strategy or principle to stop men paying for sex and support women to exit prostitution. This was sadly the backdrop in 2006 when, during a six-week period, the sex buyer Steve Wright brutally murdered five young women, all of whom were struggling with drug addiction and involved in prostitution.

2.4 The investigation into the murders of the five women, known as Operation Sumac, was unprecedented and became the biggest investigation in the history of Suffolk Constabulary. Steve Wright was subsequently convicted of all five murders and is currently serving a whole life sentence.

3. A new approach: the Ipswich Street Prostitution Strategy

3.1 Following the murders, I was responsible for developing and leading a new approach to prostitution in Ipswich. I recognised that previous strategies to deal with prostitution had not been effective and that maintaining the status quo was not an option. I recognised that punitive laws against women did not work and that many of the women involved in prostitution in Ipswich were coerced, fuelled by drugs and were very often victims of crimes such as assault, robbery and rape.

3.2 The first ‘Ipswich Street Prostitution Strategy’ was drafted. I acknowledged that prostitution was highly complex and could not be dealt with by any one agency alone. It needed a coordinated and sustained approach if it was to be successful. I convened a small working group to draft the strategy comprising of a Police representative, a representative from Ipswich Borough Council Community Safety, Suffolk Drugs and Alcohol Service and a Health representative.

3.3 The new Ipswich prostitution strategy had five main objectives:

· Identifying the Problem: gaining an understanding of the key issues, the extent of the problem, the impact on the local community and the motives behind those involved in prostitution. This helped to focus, prioritise and allocate resources and finances where they were needed most and ensure that the situation was continually monitored.

· Developing Routes Out: by offering multi-agency case conferences for each individual involved in street prostitution and ensuring that drug treatment programmes, health services, accommodation, and other supportive interventions were available to those individuals who wanted to leave street prostitution.

· Tackling Demand: deterring those who create the demand and removing the opportunity for street prostitution to take place. By utilising and exploiting all available technology, for example Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), to provide the police and their partners with the intelligence to support their aims.

· Prevention: Awareness raising and early intervention measures to stop individuals, particularly children and young people, from becoming involved in prostitution.

· Community Intelligence: to respond appropriately to the needs of the communities affected, by keeping them informed of our activities. By listening to their concerns we ensured the environment was kept safe and designed in such a way to deter and prevent street prostitution.

 

3.4 Critically, the strategy aimed to end street prostitution, not merely to ‘manage’ or move it. The strategy sought to address the concerns of the local communities affected by street prostitution with regard to nuisance, disruption, anti-social behaviour and safety concerns. The activities of kerb crawlers, and men who approach the women on foot, were also high priorities for preventative action due to the very real concerns expressed by the local community.

3.5 A Joint Agency Strategic Group was also formed to implement the new approach to prostitution. This group comprised of senior officers from local agencies, namely Ipswich Borough Council, Suffolk County Council, Suffolk Constabulary, Suffolk Probation Service, Suffolk Primary Care Trust, Suffolk Drugs and Alcohol Team and Suffolk Mental Health Partnership.

4. Outcomes

4.1 The strategy commenced operation in Ipswich in March 2007. Over the first two years, 140 men seeking to pay for sex on the streets were arrested. All those arrested were fingerprinted, photographed, had their DNA taken and signed up to an Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABC). If it was a first offence and they admitted their guilt they were dealt with by way of police caution. If it was not a first offence or they did not admit their guilt they went to court. Of those 140 arrests, 6 men were charged and later convicted at court. A strong message was communicated to the community that men who attempted to pay for sex on the streets of Ipswich would be prosecuted. I am firmly of the view that this changed behaviour. It is worth noting that the vast majority of men who were caught kerb-crawling and paying for sex in Ipswich were either married or in long term relationships, and most had children.

4.2 Over 80 vulnerable women were supported by the multi-agency ‘Make a Change’ Team who, in a non-judgemental way, provided assistance and supported women to exit the dangerous and harmful world of prostitution. Over 400 children were identified as being at risk of sexual exploitation and those considered high risk were supported by the team in order to prevent them entering prostitution.

4.3 After the first two years, prostitution effectively disappeared from the streets of Ipswich. Residents in the area where street prostitution used to take place reported that their area has become a quiet, tranquil and safe place to live, no longer blighted by anti-social behaviour created by prostitution and kerb crawling.

4.4 The University of East Anglia was commissioned to undertake a review of the Ipswich prostitution strategy [1] . The researchers concluded: "The evaluation of this Strategy showed that co-ordinated multi-agency activity had been successful in: Eliminating street prostitution and kerb crawlers in Ipswich; Helping women make life changes to move on from prostitution; Making effective in-roads into preventing others, especially the young, from becoming involved in prostitution; and Reducing demand and costs on the criminal justice services."

4.5 The review by the University of East Anglia also concluded that there was much to commend in this collaborative strategy both to other regions of the UK and to other countries, as an innovative, effective and cost-effective means of achieving justice for all stakeholders. The review found that prostitution in Ipswich had not been either displaced or driven ‘underground’. It also calculated that for every £1 that was spent as part of strategy there was a saving of £2 to the public purse, by reducing the burden on the courts and social support systems.

5. Learning

5.1 From years of policing prostitution-related crimes, I firmly believe that prostitution is inherently harmful, regardless of whether it takes place on the street or in an off-street location. It is a form of violence against women perpetrated against some of the most vulnerable women in society. I believe recognition of this should be at the heart of policing and policy on prostitution.

5.2 I have highlighted how the police and their partners successfully tackled on-street prostitution in Ipswich within the bounds of existing legislation. However, while the Ipswich strategy did evolve to deal with criminal activity linked to off-street prostitution, such as trafficking and exploitation of children, we were prevented from taking action to deter men from sexually exploiting vulnerable women in off-street locations because they are legally entitled to do so.

5.3 I do not believe we can continue to turn a blind eye to the exploitation of women through prostitution, wherever it occurs. From my experience of dealing with sex buyers, men who pay for sex believe the law gives them licence to exploit women as long as they do not solicit on the street, and they are right.

5.4 The work I led in Ipswich in the wake of the tragic murders of five women demonstrates that prostitution is not inevitable, men who pay for sex can be deterred and women can be supported out of prostitution. However, acting on this learning will require a change in the law to prohibit paying for sex, decriminalise women who are exploited on the streets, and hold third parties who facilitate this violence accountable.

5.5 It is for these reasons that I strongly support the amendments tabled by Tonia Antoniazzi MP – NC1, NC2 and NC3 – and urge the Public Bill Committee to accept them.

March 2025