When You Have To Sell Sex To Survive (Poverty Documentary) | Real Stories
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00:00I don't think I knew that documentaries could be told like this, you know, with so many
00:05of the traits of drama. Again, I don't know if I noticed it at the time, but I noticed
00:09it again watching it recently. There's no name captions like you traditionally get in
00:14So you figure it out in the way you figure out a drama.
00:4450,000 prostitutes working across the UK are desperate to change their lives.
00:49I'm trying my hardest to stop doing it, and you know that.
00:54In searingly honest, first-hand accounts.
00:56Seven days a week I've done this. I've got a drug habit to fight.
01:01We meet those selling sex on the streets.
01:04It's the same vicious circle. Making money and just making jobs.
01:11They take us into a dark world.
01:14I've been raped before, sexually assaulted.
01:19I was subjected to multiple rapes, five or four of them, over an eight-hour period.
01:27Ravaged by addiction. Trapped in a lifestyle they can't escape.
01:33Crack cocaine, prostitution, prison. That's my life.
01:39This is the reality of being a street worker.
01:43We join the volunteers trying to save them.
01:46They have to make up their minds whether they want to come out.
01:48We can't force them. Whenever they're ready, we're there.
01:53And we hear the story of one woman who's turned her life around.
01:58I met a victim, and here you are, showing up a survivor.
02:01Hello.
02:02What a difference.
02:03Hello.
02:10One young person who's worked as a prostitute since his late teens is Colin.
02:14Today, he's taking his friend Brandon to an area of wasteland known as the Gardens
02:20to show him where he sells sex.
02:23This is the Gardens. There's guys around here already.
02:26You'll go in this way.
02:28It looks a bit freaky, to be fair.
02:30It is freaky. It's quite dangerous and all.
02:32Oh, OK.
02:34Now, watch the bricks, Brandon, cos it's like...
02:38Oh!
02:40Don't come down here on your own.
02:42Hubbardon?
02:43There's people who go across that area, across there,
02:46and then little woodlands in the bushes across there.
02:49It's a massive area, so you can go anywhere in here.
02:52They've hide stones at me before from the top of there.
02:55I'll take you across here. I'll show you the hut.
02:58It's like a maze around here.
03:02Oh!
03:05Oh!
03:12So a lot of people come in here and have sex in here.
03:18This is how dangerous it is.
03:20Some people push you down and you end up down there.
03:23One of my mates got pushed down there
03:25and the ambulance had to come and fire a brigade to get him out.
03:30That's so disgusting.
03:32That's reality.
03:34If he's coming down here to make money and stuff like that,
03:37I need to try and help him and support him
03:39to get, like, away from all this now.
03:42And that's the steep part, that part there.
03:46That's where my friend got pushed down.
03:48I like the view, but that's about it.
03:51I think there are people all over the place
03:54just knocking around somewhere.
03:59Are you all right? How are you?
04:01Not bad. What are you up to?
04:03Chilling?
04:05Yeah, the same.
04:07Do you come down here often?
04:09No worries.
04:11I was talking to a guy who's about 22, 24, something like that.
04:16Erm...
04:18I think he's Pakistani.
04:20And he's just walking around, asking if anyone was here.
04:24Anyone walking around, I'd say there's no-one.
04:27My stomach's turning.
04:29This is absolutely disgusting.
04:31Well, this is the reality of being a street worker.
04:35Come on, I'll show you another part.
04:39Some people go into them bushes behind you.
04:42Some people go down there, down the steps.
04:45You've got to do something, Colin.
04:47You seriously do.
04:49This is absolutely disgusting.
04:51It's freezing cold out here,
04:53and you're doing stuff like that,
04:55like escorting and trying to find people.
04:58It's just a big risk.
05:00But I am trying my hardest to stop doing it.
05:03Oh, you said.
05:05And you know that?
05:07I know you are. You're trying, but...
05:09I think you need to try and ease off the alcohol,
05:13and then I think that's when things will become a stop,
05:16if you know what I mean.
05:18I never knew about any of this.
05:20I never knew it even existed.
05:22Well, you know now.
05:24Why? I wish I'd never known.
05:29I'm sick to the stomach just being here.
05:31Right, I'll show you back out.
05:36I'm definitely disinfecting my shoes later on.
05:45I'm glad to be out there.
05:47Now that's the garden.
05:49I'm glad to be out there.
06:07Sonia began selling sex on the streets in her late teens,
06:11after drug addiction took hold of her life.
06:14I was a street worker for six years.
06:18The punters are going past you.
06:20If they like you, they'll stop.
06:22If you don't, you'll drive on.
06:24It used to be a mixed feeling of dread,
06:27but, like, relief that maybe I get some money now.
06:30Yeah, going to school.
06:34When you've got an addiction like crack cocaine,
06:37it dictates every week and hour what you do.
06:40I was out 24-7, all to feed me habit.
06:44Sonia's early start in life was fairly content.
06:48It was a great childhood, yeah.
06:50There was always happiness and love in the home.
06:53As I got into my teens, I always felt different.
06:57I felt like the odd one out.
07:00I can't really explain it,
07:02just really out of sorts with the world, with everyone.
07:05You know, I used to go out partying like anyone,
07:08used to drink, had a full-time job,
07:11but I had an addictive personality
07:15and an ex-boyfriend introduced me to cocaine.
07:20And I just took off.
07:22And then things started to become unmanageable really, really quickly.
07:26Instead of paying my mum a keep for, you know, food,
07:30I'd be blowing my money on cocaine.
07:34And I got to the point where my mum had to kick me out the house.
07:38From cocaine, I moved on to crack cocaine,
07:41which a diva introduced me to.
07:44And it just sort of, like, spiralled out of control.
07:48I ended up homeless.
07:51And then I was introduced to streetwear.
07:54That was it for me. I was sort of, like, caught up.
08:00Every time we got into a hunter's car,
08:03it was like playing Russian roulette with our lives.
08:06We didn't know who they were.
08:08We didn't know what was going to happen.
08:10You know, we could have ended up dead.
08:16All I can remember is these two guys picking me up.
08:19They said, do you want to come back?
08:21And they paid me up front as well.
08:23But when we got back to the flat, there was two more waiting.
08:26And they attacked me before then.
08:29I was subjected to multiple...
08:35..rapes by the four of them over an eight-hour period.
08:42All I remember is in the morning,
08:44leaving the house in a terrible state.
08:46Blood run down my legs, bruises.
08:51I just remember going into a police station
08:53and just collapsing on the floor and just thinking...
08:57..that's it, I'm going to die.
09:00And even after that, all that trauma,
09:03I was back out again in, like, a day.
09:09It's not easy money at all. It comes with a price.
09:12For me, the price I paid was on my mental health.
09:18It just took years of abuse and torment and my assaults.
09:23And then I have to think about my family as well, you know.
09:27They'd be burying me if I didn't come off the streets.
09:29I knew that.
09:31It's this stigma attached that prostitutes,
09:33they're just doggies and thieves.
09:35No, no, it's way more complex than that.
09:38Most of the people out on the streets that I know are damaged.
09:42That's a human being out there.
09:44And they need to be treated like such.
09:46They need love and support, like I did.
09:50I got it.
09:51And that's why I'm here, clean, seven years.
09:58Hi, Sophia. Hi.
10:00Happy birthday!
10:02You didn't know I'm here, did you?
10:04Of course you didn't.
10:06Happy birthday.
10:08Up and down the UK,
10:10outreach groups provide support to street workers.
10:14Sophia is one of them.
10:16I'm a street worker.
10:18I'm a street worker.
10:20I'm a street worker.
10:22I'm a street worker.
10:25Sophia and a team of volunteers,
10:28known as the Women on the Frontline Ministries,
10:31have been working in East London for the last seven years.
10:34Every Friday night and Tuesday night,
10:37we go out to known areas where the women are.
10:40We usually go out with, like, gift bags with toiletry items in them,
10:44and we go out with chocolates,
10:46and these kind of things tend to open up conversations with the women,
10:51and they love them, basically.
10:53And I think it's a way of letting them see
10:55that we're not after anything from them.
10:58The vast majority of those involved in prostitution want to leave,
11:02but feel they have no other option for survival.
11:05We want to encourage them to exit that lifestyle,
11:09but also let them know that there is hope
11:11and there are options open to them.
11:13So we would refer them to other organisations
11:17where they may need help.
11:19The most important thing is building their trust.
11:22One of the things we really want to do
11:24is to try and just give them an alternative,
11:28just break through their understanding
11:30to realise that they're more than this.
11:32This isn't their lot. There is a way out. There's hope for them.
11:38Last time we went out, there were two girls that we definitely thought
11:42that were ready to come out if they had the right kind of place to go to.
11:46That is our long-term vision,
11:50is to have a house where women can come in and feel safe.
11:54Some of them are homeless,
11:56so they need somewhere where they can come in and have a shower
11:59and a change of clothes and hot meal.
12:03No woman at the age of 10, 12 or growing up would say,
12:07you know what I want to do when I grow up?
12:09I want to be a prostitute.
12:11So it's through no choice
12:13that many of them have found themselves in this situation.
12:17They keep asking for hugs and please give us another hug.
12:20Yeah, we had that last week.
12:22Yeah, and I said, well, you have given us strength
12:25to go through the night again.
12:27If we didn't go out, these girls wouldn't have those hugs,
12:30they wouldn't have the gifts, they wouldn't have someone telling them,
12:33we care about you, you know, you're a woman of worth, you matter.
12:38Sometimes we may meet a girl for that one night
12:43and we may never see her again and we never know what happened to her,
12:48whether she exited or whether she's still in the industry
12:51or whether she's in rehab or whether she died.
12:58When you see them wander off with a guy around the corner,
13:01you don't know if they're going to come back.
13:07You're walking into their territory, their life.
13:10They've got things going on that we don't know about.
13:12They could be being watched, their pimp could be in a car opposite
13:17and they would get in trouble if they don't get enough business and what have you.
13:22So we have to be very sensitive.
13:27One girl said, I just want to be able to have somebody that I can talk to
13:31that isn't a man that's after my body.
13:35The punters that actually come for these girls,
13:38they're just like normal young guys.
13:41They quickly pay their £20, have their sex and then off they go on their night.
13:45They look like Joe Bloggs.
13:47These girls, they just need the money for their next fix.
13:52I don't recognise her.
13:54She's a new one.
14:12For the last 13 years, Colin has been earning money as a sex worker.
14:20Just checking my messages.
14:23My clients go to my email.
14:25I'm sometimes on Grindr.
14:28I check my emails about 20 times a day.
14:31Messages, what a pissed dick.
14:33Let's have a look at my profile.
14:35Oh, there I am.
14:38Only 6% of sex workers in the UK are male.
14:42If I don't get any clients to, like, go to this or come here,
14:47I'll end up going down the gardens,
14:51where you can make money down there anyway.
14:54The gardens is a place where some people can make money.
14:58It's a place where you can make money.
15:00It's a place where you can make money.
15:02It's a place where you can make money.
15:04The gardens is a place where some people are, like,
15:07giving you some upload jobs, some are, like, handing money across.
15:11You get people come passing the cars,
15:13who are trying to pick people up, paying them money for it.
15:16Oh, I'll have one.
15:18I just go up to the cars, like the olden days.
15:20I say, do you want any business?
15:22As soon as I've had a drink in me, I'm not shy.
15:24Those involved in sex work frequently experience violence.
15:28People have been assaulted there.
15:30That's why people don't take much money down there any more,
15:33because people are getting mugged for it, and it's mad.
15:36That's a panic alarm my support worker gives us.
15:40If you're getting assaulted out like that, you just pull that.
15:43Oh, it's loud, mind. Watch your ears. I'll pull it.
15:48I've never used it. I normally leave it in.
15:51I keep forgetting. I keep forgetting to take it.
15:57I've been raped before, sexually assaulted.
16:02I've had people refusing to pay us.
16:10I'm normally in Newcastle for about 11 o'clock.
16:14But sometimes I've been there 9 o'clock in the morning before,
16:17because that's what time the pub opens.
16:20Since he was a teenager, Collins had an addiction to alcohol.
16:25Don't rattle it in the morning if you don't have a drink.
16:28I woke up at, like, three in the morning.
16:31I had a drink at three, so I don't feel that bad this morning.
16:36You have hot and cold flushes.
16:38Your hands start shaking, and I don't like it,
16:41so I just have a drink instead.
16:43It's absolutely horrible. I wish I'd come off it.
16:45People ask to fuck his all the time.
16:48I tell them no.
16:50All they get off me is, like, a blowjob,
16:52or, like, wanking, kissing, stuff like that.
16:54It's too risky, because they can cut the condom out.
16:57You never know.
16:58So I only do it when I'm in a relationship.
17:02In Britain, the average sex worker has around 25 clients a week.
17:08I've had people who's married.
17:10I've had one vicar once who used to come around at night-time.
17:14I see one where I go to his, he sits in the bath,
17:18and you just got to piss on him, but he buys you loads of drink.
17:21When he buys you loads of drink, you piss more.
17:23He's all right. He puts money in my bank all the time.
17:26Gives us £200 for Christmas.
17:28He says, buy yourself something nice
17:30and send us a picture of what you bought.
17:32So I sent him a picture of a pint in the pub.
17:39I've earned, like, £500 in one day before.
17:42I've always wanted to stop doing it,
17:45but when I drink...
17:47..my money goes nowhere.
17:49Just going and doing the training straight away,
17:51and I only come back to square one,
17:53and that's the only way I know how to get money.
17:55I've got no clients.
17:57I'm going to have another swig of that, have a tab.
18:00Get all smarted up.
18:02Gant, Newcastle on the metro.
18:04Then hopefully someone will come through this afternoon.
18:15I feel all right now.
18:17Not bad. Not bad at all.
18:26The volunteers of the Women on the Frontline Ministries
18:30are out on the streets of East London
18:32offering support to female sex workers
18:34by providing a listening ear, drinks, toiletries and chocolates.
18:55The majority of British girls the volunteers come across
18:59say they are funding an addiction.
19:03I started smoking drugs when I was 14.
19:06That's how I got onto the street,
19:08and I've been on the street ever since.
19:11Talking over 20 years now.
19:13Crack cocaine,
19:15prostitution,
19:17prison.
19:19That's my life.
19:22I've been attacked and raped a few times.
19:27I've been left for dead a couple of times.
19:30Truly, it's a real call me stone in here.
19:33I need a lot of help.
19:35All I know is I need help.
19:38They have to make up their minds whether they want to come out.
19:41We can't force them.
19:43They have to make that choice themselves,
19:45but we just let them know whenever they're ready, we're there.
19:49Group leader Sophia has encountered violence herself
19:53while trying to help sex workers on these streets.
19:57I've experienced a horrific trauma.
20:00It was a local resident who had come off his medication.
20:05He had attacked me with a meat cleaver.
20:10Yeah, so I ended up in the hospital for a couple of days,
20:16had stitches, had to go through counselling.
20:20I was determined that I was still going to come back out
20:24and do what I'm doing
20:27so I can relate to how violent it can be on the streets for these women.
20:34Hello. Hi.
20:36How are you?
20:38Can I offer you a chocolate?
20:40Yeah, why not? What's your favourite?
20:42I like the red one.
20:44You've said that you've been in the industry 16 years.
20:48Off and on or continuously?
20:50I've had a year and a half off and only when I'm in prison.
20:54What stopped you from exiting completely?
20:58Some of us do it because we're not on benefits
21:01and so that's the only way that we can make an extra change.
21:05I was in university, I was studying, at the same time I was pregnant.
21:09Unfortunately I had a miscarriage,
21:11and then mental health, psychosis.
21:14I started to hear my baby crying.
21:17As a result of that, I lost my job.
21:20Losing my job meant that I couldn't pay my rent
21:23and then I lost my flat.
21:25And then from then it was just a domino effect.
21:30I've started to become focused again and that's through my family
21:34literally sitting me down and telling me,
21:37the way you're going, we don't know if you're going to be here
21:40in the next five years.
21:42And what is your dream?
21:44I just want a relationship with my son.
21:46Take it as it comes.
21:48Try and get in touch with us so that we can continue this conversation.
21:51Can we give you a hug?
21:53Yeah, why not?
21:56We just pray, almighty God,
21:58that you will heal your daughter of every hurt, every pain.
22:08MUSIC PLAYS
22:1129-year-old sex worker Colin lives in the north-east.
22:16£4.10! What a liberty.
22:19Definitely looking forward to getting that programme done.
22:22It's too cold out here.
22:26He's heading into the city while he waits for clients to get in touch.
22:30I'll keep checking the formula in Newcastle.
22:33There's a lot more clients there.
22:37If I get the job, I'll just go to the job and come back to the pub.
22:41It's easy as that.
22:45It could be a toilet, it could be go down the gardens,
22:49it could really meet you outside the shop and go somewhere.
22:55I've got a job!
22:57I wish I could get a job, but the doctors always say,
23:01like, don't work yet until you're 100%.
23:05So I've just got to, like, wait until the doctor's happy with this.
23:11I got assaulted by a picnic client.
23:14A very serious assault.
23:16I got smacked around the head with something and I woke up naked.
23:20All I remember is having a chain wrapped around my ankle.
23:23I managed to press 999 on the phone nearby when he left the room.
23:28Then the police came in and tears at him.
23:31Getting attacked changed a lot and I hit the drink cos I had to block it out.
23:35I was assessed by a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with PTSD.
23:39I went to my GP.
23:41He turned around to the doctor and he went,
23:43Colin, it's going to take two years for you to get the therapy you need.
23:47I couldn't last another two years having the PTSD.
23:50And he said, it's the best place to get out of this prison
23:53cos if you go to prison, you'll get the therapy straight away.
23:56I went back to my mate's house and I just picked the phone up
23:59and pretended I was going to blow the train station up.
24:01And I gave my real name just to go to prison.
24:0316 months I received.
24:05And I got the help straight away.
24:08Colin successfully detoxed,
24:10but he didn't have the long-term support needed to stay sober
24:13when he was released.
24:17Can I have two Colin, please? Absolutely, mate.
24:21Colin's friend, Brandon, has come to meet him.
24:26So, what are you up to? Any clients?
24:29No, I've checked my Grindr this morning.
24:32I've checked my Sleepyboy's account.
24:34Not even one message. It's no good, is it?
24:37Don't you want, like, a proper job or anything?
24:39Yeah. Don't you know how you used to work?
24:42Do you want to stop? Do you think it's going to be easier?
24:46I don't want to stop, but when the door doesn't pay on time,
24:49like, I've got no option to do it, cos I need my gas and electric
24:52and need food and everything.
24:54And drink. And I need my drink, obviously.
24:57So, if you stop, like, the escorting,
24:59do you think you'll stop the drinking?
25:01Or ease the drinking down?
25:03I'm going to stop drinking first, before I can stop escorting.
25:08My childhood was all right,
25:10but I had a lot of problems.
25:13My childhood was all right,
25:15but obviously when social services put us into residential care,
25:20cos I was bad, I was too hyper,
25:23social services had us going from door to door, pill at the post.
25:27It was happy when I went back to seeing my mum once a week,
25:31but other than that, it was bad.
25:36When I was 16, I got in with the wrong crowd, started drinking.
25:40Then it just went bad, it just totally bad.
25:46Colin turned to escorting and street work
25:49as a way of funding his alcohol dependency.
25:52It's just a bit hard.
25:54It is hard when, like, you've done it for so long.
25:56I've done it since I was 16.
26:00My support's there, anyway.
26:02I know, but there's still more support that needs to be involved in it.
26:05You've had no phone calls, like, you've had no clients,
26:08what are you going to do now?
26:10I'll have to find someone, I might go down to the gardens.
26:13But that's dangerous as well? I know it's all dangerous.
26:18It's really risky, I think,
26:20that you can't tell someone how to run their life.
26:23I do worry about him, because he could end up in the Titan River
26:26or he could end up in the middle of a field somewhere.
26:29He doesn't think about the risks, he needs the money for the drink.
26:33It's definitely going to be really hard for him to sort that out.
26:39MUSIC PLAYS
26:44Former young prostitute and addict Sonia
26:47has successfully turned her life around.
26:51Now she wants to help others who find themselves in a similar situation.
26:58I'm about to do a talk to Jeannie and the Gutter,
27:02an excellent organisation,
27:04who provide support for those people who are not in recovery just yet.
27:13I find myself getting all angsty and, you know, butterflies in my tummy,
27:19but, you know, it's also a thrill.
27:21Seven years ago, when I come here, in Sixth Dome,
27:24literally dying on my feet.
27:26A drug addict who, at that time, didn't have no hope.
27:29I'm proud of myself that I'm in the situation
27:32and I'm able to give back to people.
27:35Today, Sonia is sharing her story with staff from the organisation.
27:40I've cried, I've ranted, I've raged.
27:44What motivated you to make them changes
27:47and to realise that you were at your worst to find recovery?
27:51I knew when I was ready. I knew.
27:53I need help. Please, I need help.
27:56I couldn't take no more. I was broken as a person.
28:00The utter despair and the grim reality of being out there,
28:05being in danger, took a lot of risks,
28:09and all from addiction.
28:11I knew I had to do something and do it quick.
28:14I need to go and rehab.
28:16What type of stuff do you do now to enhance recovery?
28:19Apart from my meetings, I try and get to the hostels where I can,
28:24speak to other women and men.
28:26It's important for me as an addict in recovery now
28:31to be out there and give that message.
28:33What type of things do you see yourself doing in the future?
28:36One of the things is doing outreach with the girls on the street.
28:40Because I found in my time working out there
28:44that when the ladies from the Homestead used to come round
28:48to tea, coffee, butties, clothes and stuff, that helped a lot.
28:52Thanks very much for allowing me to come here today
28:55and share my message of hope.
29:01I think it could be a big part of my future, becoming a support worker.
29:05I can get my message across.
29:07It's definitely a future for me in support work.
29:10Absolutely.
29:18In East London, Sophia and the volunteers
29:21of Women on the Frontline Ministries
29:23are spending their evening providing support to female sex workers.
29:27I think the last time we went out, we saw about...
29:30Was it about six girls?
29:32Once you're hooked on drugs,
29:34you find that in order to pay for your drugs,
29:37this is what you would do, working prostitution.
29:42But the majority in one area,
29:45you would say probably eight out of the ten are probably on drugs.
29:52I think when they come from Eastern European countries,
29:55often they are trafficked and they don't come here
29:58because they're reliant on drugs.
30:01White British, black British,
30:04they are on drugs and alcohol.
30:09There are around 32,000 women selling sex in London.
30:14I first started taking heroin when I was 19.
30:19Then I got into crack cocaine when I lost my kids about four years ago.
30:24I'm doing prostitution to support my habit, really.
30:28Make money, smoke drugs.
30:30It's the same vicious circle.
30:32Making money and just making drugs.
30:35I've tried to stop it, but what am I actually stopping it for?
30:41All I know now is to take drugs.
30:44I don't know anything else.
30:46Who's going to want to employ them when they've got this kind of history
30:50of petty crime soliciting for the purpose of prostitution?
30:56A local resident shares what it's like to live in a red-light district.
31:01So how long have you lived in this area?
31:03Since about 2012.
31:05You see a lot of female prostitutes.
31:10Yeah. How do you know they're prostitutes?
31:13Because every time I walk past, they ask for business
31:16in terms of sexual intercourse.
31:19It's not something we need to see.
31:22It proves to be a busy night, in spite of the freezing weather,
31:26with a number of girls out working.
31:28It's just kind of happened.
31:30It all goes with the smoking drugs, being on the road.
31:33Seven days a week, I can't have it. Seven days.
31:36I've got a drug habit to find.
31:38If I don't have it, I'm going to withdraw.
31:40Cold, horrible and scary.
31:43Unpredictable.
31:45Violence. Not nice.
31:47A few customers will come and they're just bastards.
31:51Horrible.
31:53I want to go home now. I'm freezing.
31:56You notice that a lot of them as well are saying
31:59that they've got nowhere to live
32:01and they haven't got the support that they need.
32:04Even one of them made the comment that,
32:06OK, if I get out of it, what am I going to do?
32:08I'm going to be alone. I'm not going to have nothing to do.
32:11And that's what her thinking is.
32:13They need somewhere where they can have that mindset change
32:17and encouragement and support that they need to exit.
32:23Night over.
32:25Time to go home!
32:27Nice cup of coffee.
32:29Oh, something warm.
32:31It's freezing.
32:34It's the end of their shift
32:36and time for Sophia, Marguerite and Dee to head home.
32:41But their unwavering commitment
32:43means they'll be back out on the streets again
32:45in just a few days' time.
32:48In the north-east, sex worker Colin has had no clients
32:52via his online accounts,
32:54so he ventures into an area known as The Gardens,
32:57looking for work.
33:01Are you all right, pal?
33:03Yeah, I'm fine.
33:05I'm fine.
33:07I'm fine.
33:09I'm fine.
33:11I'm fine.
33:13I'm fine.
33:16You all right, pal? How are you?
33:18Where are you from? London?
33:20Are you gay, like?
33:22I thought that when I spotted you there.
33:26Have you ever been here before, no?
33:30Yeah. Are you top or bottom?
33:32Both. Versatile. Greedy.
33:35Greedy.
33:38You're quite cute, man.
33:40No worries.
33:43No, not tonight.
33:45You get loads of cars coming past all the time,
33:47looking at you and that.
33:51If you go inside here, they can take you back there.
33:54Someone will hear you.
33:56There's a lad with a torch there, coming out.
33:59I know.
34:03Is that you on the back of his top, please?
34:05What's a copper?
34:09Well, it's not arrested now.
34:11Probably went for a quick blowjob.
34:16You don't feel safe?
34:22Are you walking up that way? I'll walk up with you.
34:36It's not long before Colin bumps into someone else.
34:41Are you all right? Where are you from?
34:43I don't know. You come all the way up here?
34:46It's a long way to come just to come cruising.
34:53Do you get fucked down here often?
34:57Have you?
34:59When was the last time you got fucked down here?
35:02Six weeks. Was he nice?
35:05When you come down here, do you do it bare or do you do it safe?
35:09Bare. Bare?
35:11Are you not scared of catching anything?
35:13You're not bothered?
35:15Wow.
35:17What happens if you've caught HIV or something off one of them?
35:25I'm absolutely shocked at that.
35:27You're the first person who's, like, come down and went,
35:29I'm not bothered. Do you know what I mean?
35:32I'm always safe, me.
35:34Are you limping? I am.
35:38Too good-looking to do this for free, I'm telling you.
35:44Yeah, I've come down here a few times,
35:46but, like, I don't just go across there at night time
35:48because it's quite dangerous.
35:50You get loads of idiots around here.
35:54Are you having a walk along here?
35:57Tonight, it's been very quiet.
35:59A couple of conversations here and there.
36:01No money, no money.
36:03When you're asking, you've got to go out there and do it
36:06and get it straight away.
36:08But I would have worked harder if I needed that money tonight.
36:14There was one guy in particular who goes down there
36:16and has sex without a condom.
36:18To hear that out of someone's lips, to say that,
36:21I'm not really bothered at all.
36:23I do want to stop, but it is hard.
36:25What Brandon says to us today, no-one's ever said that before.
36:29No-one's ever said, I'll support you,
36:31I'll always be there for you.
36:33So I'm glad I've taken Brandon down to the gardens
36:37to show him the dangers,
36:39and I think that's playing on Brandon's mind, I know.
36:43It's a long journey for addicted young prostitutes
36:46to get off the streets and turn their lives around.
36:49Today, Colin is celebrating his 30th birthday.
36:53He's got a new job, he's got a new job.
36:56He's got a new job.
36:58He's got a new job.
37:00He's got a new job.
37:02He's got a new job.
37:04He's got a new job.
37:06He's got a new job.
37:08He's got a new job.
37:10Today, Colin is taking that first step to recovery
37:14by visiting a local sexual health clinic for advice.
37:18When I went down to the gardens,
37:20the guy says he has bareback sex
37:22and he's not really bothered if he catches anything.
37:25Them kind of people, they are going to pass it around all the time,
37:28but I'm not like that.
37:30I always take the right measures to avoid catching something.
37:34Colin?
37:37Hi, Colin. Come in and have a seat, my love.
37:40My name's Caroline.
37:42Just give me two minutes to get into my system.
37:45What is it that's brought you along today, Colin?
37:48Just for a normal check-up.
37:50Any medical problems, anything you see your GP about?
37:53No, not really.
37:55How much alcohol would you drink in a normal week?
37:58Oh, Christ, I don't know. I've got no clue.
38:00What would you drink in a normal day?
38:02A cup of cider, a cup of lager.
38:04What's that, a can or a bottle?
38:06A can.
38:07One can a day?
38:08No, more than that.
38:10How many a day?
38:11About 12 pints or something a day.
38:14Wow, that's quite a bit.
38:16Right. Have you got a problem with drinking, do you think?
38:19Yeah.
38:20Right. So the alcohol consumption is a concern,
38:23so I'm ticking that one.
38:25Do you take any recreational drugs?
38:27No.
38:28No cannabis, ecstasy, cocaine or anything like that?
38:30No.
38:31Great. What about chemsex?
38:33Chemsex parties or anything like that?
38:35No.
38:36Great.
38:37Sexual partners, would they be male, female or do you have both?
38:41Male.
38:42Right. How many sexual partners have you had within, say, the last six months?
38:47Oh, God, I haven't got a clue. A lot.
38:50How many a day?
38:52One or two a day.
38:54One or two a day. Right. So are you selling sex?
38:57Yeah.
38:58Right. And how long have you been doing that for?
39:00Since I was 16.
39:01So that's quite a considerable length of time.
39:03Is that something that you're happy doing or...?
39:05No, I want to try to quit.
39:07You want to try to quit.
39:08So what are you doing to try and stop selling yourself for sex?
39:12Well, I'm trying to, like, stop my drinking first,
39:14because if my drinking wants to make me do it.
39:17How long has it since you last had sex?
39:20Three days ago.
39:22So what I'm going to do is take a swab from the back of your throat
39:25and then I want you to do me a wee sample
39:27so we can test your urine for gonorrhoea and chlamydia.
39:30We can do the blood tests for HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
39:36How about all that?
39:38Yeah, that's fine.
39:39Do you want the lot?
39:40Great.
39:44Colin will now have to wait a week to hear whether his tests have come back clear.
39:49There's always a worry until you get results, so you've just got to wait.
39:55There's that booklet for support around alcohol.
39:59Yeah, no worries.
40:00Anything you want to ask me about at all?
40:02No, that's all.
40:03Do you want any condoms whilst you're here?
40:05Aye, please.
40:06There's some condoms for you.
40:08All right, cheers.
40:09OK.
40:10All right.
40:11Lovely. Take care, flower.
40:12Nice to see you, Colin.
40:13Bye-bye.
40:16Alcohol is probably one of his biggest problems
40:19that he's going to have to overcome to get out of this cycle and back on track.
40:25It would be brilliant if he can make a difference to his life
40:28and get back into employment as we know it
40:31rather than having to sell yourself to earn a few bob.
40:39I'm ready for a change at this time because, like, I'm sick of drinking,
40:42I'm sick of going through all this.
40:44My hopes for the future, well, I've found a stable accommodation now,
40:48so that's one off the box.
40:50I'll have a job and have a partner.
40:54That's my goals.
40:58Yeah.
41:05Seven years ago, Sonia was addicted to drugs and working on the streets.
41:10Today, she's meeting up with her former support worker, Eve,
41:14who helped her turn her life around.
41:17I think it's been, what, seven years now
41:19since you first come to the services at Action On Addiction?
41:22Yeah.
41:23It's been a struggle, you know, our good days and bad days.
41:26What do you think your struggles are?
41:28My mental health.
41:30Because of being through a lot with sexual assaults and stuff,
41:33I think that is, for me, that plays a lot on my mind.
41:40Yeah.
41:41The best thing about it, though, is not once have I never wanted to use Jeremy.
41:46Oh, that's amazing.
41:47Because I've got the tools today, you know, I've got my meetings,
41:50I've got great people around me.
41:53Couldn't have got through half the stuff without, you know,
41:56yourself and, you know, the services.
41:59And if we could go back and you started at the beginning of them seven years,
42:03you came in and you were somebody who was quite hostile.
42:07Yeah.
42:08You didn't really want to hurt anyone.
42:10I mean, experiencing you today, Sonia, I've got to say,
42:15I mean, you are a completely different woman.
42:18I just remember, I remember what I was like, Eve.
42:20I was frightened of you.
42:22I was frightened of people telling me, you know, this is what you need to do.
42:26And they weren't doing it to hurt me.
42:28They were doing it to help me.
42:29And that hostility was born from fear, the fear of change.
42:33Yeah.
42:34Learn to live without alcohol and drugs.
42:37Learn to trust people again.
42:40Learn to open up and be honest.
42:43It's been painful to have to slowly but surely take them steps to go,
42:49you know what, I've got to do this.
42:52There was another side I also seen of you during that time,
42:55and that was one of real care and compassion for other people,
42:58you know, giving support and help to them.
43:00Yeah.
43:01Because they'd lost the way a bit.
43:03That's the biggest role that I can play in my recovery,
43:06is to stay sober and stay connected to people
43:10and be able to share my story to help others.
43:13Because, you know what, I remember being that vulnerable,
43:17being that girl.
43:19I feel humbled by you right now.
43:22I think you're a miracle.
43:23You're an absolute miracle.
43:26I met a victim, and here you are showing up a survivor.
43:29I know.
43:30What a difference.
43:31I know.
43:32Yeah.
43:33I'm so happy you're coming to see me today.
43:35Believe me, there's times where I want to run and not come back,
43:39but I've stayed because I knew out there for me, I was going to die.
43:46And here, in the rooms, is where I was going to live.
43:51There's hope. There's hope.
43:56People come into these services,
43:58they come from all different walks of life.
44:01Addiction does not discriminate.
44:03It will touch anybody's life.
44:06It's that knowing that you have to experience
44:09them physical withdrawals,
44:11and then that's when the real work begins.
44:14And quite often what people do is they have the detoxes
44:17and then they think that's it, that they're done,
44:20when there's a whole lot of other stuff to look at.
44:24I'm really positive about Sonia for the future.
44:27I think she's done amazingly well.
44:29It was a real surprise that she wasn't dead,
44:32that she hadn't died with the kind of lifestyle that she was leading.
44:36It really was.
44:38It's because of the support workers across the UK
44:41that young people have the chance to successfully change their lives.
44:45I think she's a medical.
44:50The outreach programme in London are continuing their work
44:53in encouraging young addicts to seek help to leave the streets.
44:57Sonia is now regularly giving motivational speeches
45:00to young sex workers.
45:03And Colin, got the all clear from the sexual health checks,
45:07is detoxing from alcohol and is applying for jobs.