UK P4P News

Abuse of Process case against Surrey Police on behalf of Hanna Morris
Monday 21 February
10am Guildford Crown Court

Hanna Morris said:

I would like to thank everyone who gave their support, either in body or spirit, for my court case on 4 February. It is gratefully appreciated. This is a harrowing time for my family and I, but we are strengthened by knowing that people's thoughts are with us. The case has been adjourned till 21 February, if anybody would like to attend court you'd be very welcome as we hope to put forward a strong united front.

The case aims to stop the prosecution of Ms Morris who reported a violent attack and now faces charges for brothel-keeping and money laundering.

On 16 September 2009, Ms Morris dialled 999 when two identifiable men, one who appeared to have a sawn-off shot gun up his sleeve, barged into a flat used by her escort agency, threw petrol around and threatened to torch the place. Anxious to protect the women who work for the agency, Ms Morris innocently helped the police investigation.

The abuse of process case is being brought because:

• The investigation against the dangerous men has been dropped, but Ms Morris is being prosecuted.
• Ms Morris's gave the police information on the understanding that it was needed to pursue the attackers. Without it, Surrey Police would have no evidence against her.
• Ms Morris was never at any point cautioned that what she was telling the police would be used as evidence against her.
• If the judge rules that there has been no abuse of process, Ms Morris will ask the court to exclude evidence obtained from her, from any proceedings against her.

Ms Morris' solicitor Nigel Richardson (Hodge Jones and Allen) wrote to Surrey Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to ask for the prosecution to be dropped as it is completely contrary to the stated aims of trying to improve the safety of sex workers and that it is hard to see how a prosecution in this case can do anything but . . . make would-be attackers more confident in their actions and increase the dangers for working women. . . the prosecution of this offence is likely to directly discourage the reporting of crimes against potentially vulnerable women and thus increase risks to their safety.

Why is Ms Morris being prosecuted for trying to protect women and ensure that violent men are not free to attack others? The Director of Public Prosecutions claims to prioritise women's safety. What does he have to say about this prosecution?

The prominent anti-rape group Women Against Rape comments:

90% of rapists go free. Prosecuting Hannah Morris who tried to bring two violent men to justice is perverse. Rapists and other violent men often target sex workers assuming they cannot call the police. If sex workers are denied the protection of the law, this vulnerability is magnified. The CPS and police should prosecute rapists, not victims.

Is profiteering by police and CPS behind this surge of prosecutions? Hanna Morris is not the only woman who is being prosecuted in this way. The CPS's record is riddled with such injustices. Under Proceeds of Crime law the police keep 50% of assets confiscated during raids and 25% from subsequent prosecutions, with the CPS keeping another 25% and the Inland Revenue the rest. Ms Morris's home and life savings have been frozen pending confiscation if she is found guilty.

English Collective of Prostitutes

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www.prostitutescollective.net
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The impact of adult entertainment on rape statistics in Camden: a re-analysis. by Brooke L Magnanti, PhD.

Abstract

A 2003 report [by the anti-prostitution campaigners of Lilith] on the impact of lap-dancing clubs on sexual assault in Camden, London had significant influence on the perception of the contribution of adult entertainment to crime statistics. In spite of mathematical corrections to the statistics in the report, its original conclusions are still widely reported in both academic and mass media.

This paper presents a broader analysis of the impact of lap-dancing clubs by calculating accurate rates of incidence, analysing statistics from a longer time period, and comparing the results with crime rates in neighbouring boroughs of London. The rate of rape in Camden is lower than that in comparable boroughs, including ones with no such clubs. The overall trend for London boroughs, while higher than the national average, shows a decrease where national statistics are on the increase

Melon Farmers Comment

It is of course good to see the Lilith nonsense challenged, but it seems a pity that it takes pseudo science to demonstrate the bleedin' obvious.

Does anyone intuitively think, given a massively changing society, that anyone can correlate anything significant to a tiny percentage of the male population visiting lap dancing clubs. Surely this pails into insignificance compared with say demographic changes such as ageing populations, declining religion, cultural changes dues to European and South Asian immigration, economic changes, policing changes with the advent of CCTV, DNA, database surveillance, massively increased impact of the internet (with enough influence to decimate other branches of the adult industry), changes to patterns of alcohol consumption, declining influence of tobacco, and of course the certification of video nasties...the list is endless...

What are the chances that 'any' effects of a couple of lap dancing venues can be mathematically extracted from this fog of major societal influences?

I would guess somewhere in the ballpark of 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001%

Fake teen on trial over lies to newspaper

The Romanian prostitute now 28 who claimed to be 14 so she could feature in a four-page investigation in the Daily Mail into under-age prostitution has gone on trial after a three-year investigation.

The special report by Chris Rogers also ran on ITV's News at 10 and on CNN in 2008, as well as in the Daily Mail.

It detailed how the journalists had managed to buy a 14-year-old from sex slave traders at a petrol station in Iasi, a town in north eastern Romania.

But Romanian officials incensed at the claims that the country had a flourishing trade in under age prostitutes investigated, and discovered that the alleged teenager was in fact Monica Ghinga, then 25, who had been working as a prostitute since 2006.

The indictment charging her with prostitution used the clips from the report to prove that she worked on the streets charging clients sums from 12 to 25 euros.

Iasi police spokesman Madalin Soranu said: We opened the investigation because we wanted to see if it was really human trafficking. She has been charged with prostitution as a result of this case.

A chief superintendent at West Yorkshire Police has called for a DNA database of men who use prostitutes.

Ch Supt Alison Rose, who works in Bradford South, said if DNA was taken men might think again about committing crimes against women.

Rose claimed: I think there's a real gap in the law around taking DNA from men that use women for sex. If you know that in paying a woman for sex, your DNA was going to be taken you might think again.

But Guy Herbert, from the No2ID campaign, said: This is a diversion of police resources from doing something sensible about the real problem.

Update: Limited to those charged with kerb crawling

10th January 2011. See  article from  theregister.co.uk by Jane Fae Ozimek

West Yorkshire subsequently clarified Rose's position. A spokesman told the Register: She is referring to taking the DNA of those who are charged with kerb crawling offences. If they are subsequently found not guilty, they would obviously be removed from any database. This is a call for a change in the current legislation.

In further clarification, West Yorkshire explained that Rose would also like to see the release of images of men convicted of kerb crawling.