‘I’m 29 but I’m feeling 39... there’s a lot of things I miss because I’m doing this’

IT’S a cold winter’s night on the deserted back streets of city centre Sheffield, with frost forming on windscreens and an icy veneer on the pavements.

But, despite the cold, Michelle has been standing outside a closed-up cafe in Neepsend for the last hour-and-a-half. She’s wearing three pairs of socks and two pairs of gloves to try and keep warm and she’ll remain here until her boyfriend comes to pick her up in two hours’ time – even then she’ll only go home if she’s earned enough money.

Michelle, who plans to give up prostitution for good before Christmas, says she usually charges £20 for full sex, but sometimes she’ll “add an extra fiver on.”

“Some girls charge £30 or £40, but it depends if the punters will pay it,” she says. “I’m 29, but I’m starting to feel 39. There’s a lot of things I miss because I’m doing this, like going to see my mum or going for a drink in town.”

With smart jeans, a white coat and polished ankle boots, Michelle looks exactly like any of the other 20-something women who are enjoying a night out in the nearby Milestone gastropub.

But then there is no “typical” sex worker, Sali Harwood tells me. After 15 years with the Sheffield Working Women’s Opportunities Project (SWWOP), Sali has a wealth of experience in working with street prostitutes and is eager to dispel the many myths and prejudices that surround the issue.

Sali and her team drive a white van around the red light district of Sheffield, offering essentials such as condoms, STI testing kits and a needle exchange alongside a friendly ear, snacks, warm clothes and hot drinks.

On a busy night they may talk to up to 15 women, but while the number of women plying their trade on Sheffield’s streets is decreasing, the problem has far from gone away.

“That’s partly to do with mobile phones – a lot of women work from their phones now and quite a few have regular punters,” says 54-year-old Sali. “There’s a recession on, and that does affect things as well, as men haven’t got any money. Since I started doing this in 1996, there’s been no increase in the amount of money the women charge – it must be the only thing that hasn’t gone up with inflation.”

As well as helping prostitutes on a practical level, SWWOP also works with numerous organisations within Sheffield and offers training to people such as health staff, magistrates and drugs workers.

Sali says “We deliver awareness training to try and get rid of all the stereotypes and the myths.”

One of the most common preconceptions is that women sell sex in order to fund a drug habit. While for some that is undoubtedly the case, other women who Sali and her colleagues meet are driven purely by a need for money.

“You might get women dipping in to do it in the run-up to Christmas, or if they’ve got a big bill to pay,” she explains.

One 28-year-old mother working in the area around Upper Allen Street says she’s working just to be able to buy Christmas presents for her children, aged 11, seven, six and 18 months.

“It’s Christmas, and I’m having trouble with my benefits”, she says. “I’m not on drugs, but I need the money.”

Judith, who takes some gloves and a hot drink from Sali’s van, says she’s been desperately trying to find work in either catering or retail, but is struggling due to both her lack of qualifications and previous convictions.

“I’m getting really sick of it out here. I hate it,” she says, adding that she is scared of being on the streets because there’s been some “trouble” with prostitutes being mugged and assaulted. In the SWWOP van there is what they call a “dodgy punters” board, where women can post details of any men who should be avoided.

At the moment, they are being warned to be on their guard against two men in a “small blue sporty car.”

There’s also a 10-year anniversary appeal for information on the murder of prostitute and mother Michaela Hague, who was stabbed and left for dead on waste land in Spitalfields.

When she was found semi-conscious, she had 19 stab wounds to her neck and back. Michaela died three hours later, but had managed to give a brief description of the man who attacked he.

However, her killer – who she said wore glasses, a blue fleece and a wedding ring – has never been caught. Rachel Mullan-Feroze was working with SWWOP on the night in November 2001 that the 25-year-old was killed.

“We knew her well,” she says. “The women were scared after it happened, but I think they had to suppress just how frightened they were, because they still had to come out.

“Michaela Hague wasn’t the first and she won’t be the last,” Sali adds. “We’ve had quite a few deaths. The most recent ones have been due to alcohol.”

Sali says that, while SWWOP is “out there for the women”, they do work closely with the police.

“All our clients, in order to be out here, have been vulnerable,” she adds.

“They’ve experienced a lot of violence in their lives. They’re beaten up by everybody and sometimes even other women out here are the problem.

“People drive around throwing things at them. Everybody abuses them – it’s horrendous.”

PC Simon Nolan, from South Yorkshire Police’s Sheffield city centre safer neighbourhood team, says that officers try and help women working on the streets of Sheffield by referring them to SWWOP.

He explains: “Women found loitering or soliciting for the purposes of prostitution are given a Home Office street caution. But more importantly they are given information about SWWOP. Contact details of the women are recorded and passed to SWWOP to follow up, offer support and develop a way out of street working. If the same woman is seen a second time, a further street caution is administered and details again forwarded to SWWOP. If the woman is identified for a third time within a three-month period, she is arrested and taken into custody. An inspector’s authority is then sought for a drugs test and the female is charged to appear at magistrates’ court.

“It was felt that the old disposal at court of routinely fining the women was not helping to reduce offending and so since April 2010, South Yorkshire Police has taken a more pro-active approach. Working in partnership with SWWOP – and at the magistrates’ discretion – women are offered a referral order to attend a minimum of three appointments with SWWOP over a six-month period.

“This is to identify the reasons behind why an individual has become a street worker and to support them in exiting the world of prostitution. However, the force has a zero-tolerance approach to kerb crawling. Offenders are arrested every time and have their DNA, photograph and fingerprints taken.

“Their disposal is decided by the custody sergeant, with some facing the prospect of a court appearance.”

To find out more about SWWOP or to donate to the charity, visit the website at www.swwop.org

Some names have been changed to protect identities.