'2,600 sex workers trafficked,' says study

The number of migrant women trafficked into Britain to work as prostitutes is lower than previously thought, a report has claimed.

Around 2,600 migrant women have been trafficked into England and Wales and forced to work as prostitutes, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). A further 9,600 sex workers were judged to be "vulnerable migrants", many of whom were abused and exploited, but researchers could not be sure they had been trafficked.

This is far lower than previous estimates, which have ranged from 4,000, according to a 2003 Home Office study, to the 18,000 announced by the then Chief Constable of Gloucestershire, Tim Brain, in 2008.

The latest Acpo study found that 17,000 of the 30,000 women involved in the off-street sex trade are migrants, mostly from China, Thailand and eastern Europe. They said at least 2,600 of these were trafficked into the country and made to work as prostitutes, often with threats of violence.