Short-term holiday lets in Liverpool are increasingly suspected of being used as bases for sex work, with concerns that women are being exploited and that bookings surge around major sporting events. Residents in one city street told the ECHO they believe a nearby house is being used for sex work, with men "turning up looking at Google Maps" at all hours and men and women coming and going throughout the day and night.
Concerns have been raised about suspicious activity at a property in Dominion Street in the Tuebrook area, with Merseyside Police and Liverpool City Council now looking into the address. A leading figure in supporting victims of modern slavery and trafficking told the ECHO the increase in holiday lets being used for sex work was an "uncomfortable truth" for the city to face.
Residents report men knocking on doors
Those living in Dominion Street told the ECHO they believe the property is being used as a base for sex work. They said men have knocked on their doors looking for the property with Google Maps open on their phones, and they have seen women "half naked" in the street in the middle of the day while their own children were out playing.
Running or managing a property for sex work is illegal under UK law. Merseyside Police told the ECHO they are aware of allegations of "suspicious activity" at an address in Dominion Street.
When the ECHO visited the street this week, one woman who lives close to the property said: "We have seen people coming and going, we have seen women half-naked in the middle of the street while my babies are playing out. We have had men knocking on our door thinking this is the house because they don't know what number it is. It is happening at all times of the day, but more at night. It is bad. Police have been here recently."
Councillor reports growing issue
This is one of a growing number of cases of properties in Liverpool suspected of being used for sex work. City leaders have told the ECHO that criminal gangs are thought to be using properties in parts of the city to conduct illegal operations, often advertising them online as short-term or holiday lets. There are concerns about the dangers this poses for the women involved, many of whom are potentially being trafficked by gangs into these houses, with less visibility as the activity is conducted behind closed doors.
Cllr Joe Dunne, who represents the Tuebrook area on Liverpool City Council, has also received reports about activity at the Dominion Street property, as well as others in the area. He showed evidence to the ECHO that the property is being advertised online for short-term lets, which he says there is no permission for.
Cllr Dunne told the ECHO: "Local people contacted me about it and said there are women going into the property at different times, men are outside on their phones on Google Maps trying to find the property. It is around the corner from Sheil Road, which we think is expanding in terms of where sex work is happening and now coming down into Tuebrook and into properties. There are children that play out in that street and there is drug dealing taking place, the kids are asking their parents what is going on - it is not a good environment for kids to be exposed to."
He added: "There is an active investigation into that property. It is a criminal matter but also a civil matter. That property shouldn't be getting advertised for short-term lets."
The Liberal Party councillor said these issues are emerging elsewhere in his ward. He added: "There was another property in the area that was being advertised online and someone spray painted the word 'brothel' on the side of the house. We have been going back and forth with the council and we have developed our own list called the Properties of Concern list, cross referencing HMO licenses with planning applications and some of them had no permission."
He added: "This is undermining the community and there are a lot of people involved in these failures, from the landlords who are not playing by the rules to the authorities not enforcing the rules."
Police and council investigating
Liverpool Council told the ECHO it is investigating the changing use of the Dominion Street property. A spokesperson for Merseyside Police told the ECHO: "We are aware of allegations of suspicious activity taking place at an address on Dominion Street, in Tuebrook. If you have any information, you can DM us @MerPolCC or call 101. You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."
Cllr Jeanie Bell, Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner and leader of the region's Modern Slavery Network, confirmed to the ECHO that the use of short-term holiday lets for sex work is on the rise, with particular spikes around large sporting events in the city. She said: "It's something that we've dealt with extensively. We have seen an increased use of these properties being used for sex trafficking. We have worked with organisations who are able to track women who are being moved across the country through these short-term holiday let houses and trafficked. So, it is a known problem, and it is a big issue.
"I would say it's an uncomfortable truth that it's on the increase. Information that I've heard is that during big sporting events and horse racing events, bookings for these properties will go through the roof for sex workers."
Cllr Bell said that while many of the women involved will be foreign nationals, there are also lots of British sex workers within that group. She added: "There's a whole question about, are they there voluntarily? Is it their choice? If they're in a short-term let, then that's inappropriate anyway. When Merseyside Police teams go in, they take a victim-first approach. So, they will go in and speak with those women to make sure that they are there of their own volition and will offer to remove them to safe houses.
"We have a network of safe houses within the Modern Slavery Network that people can access. So if the team that deals with modern slavery and sexual exploitation go to that property and discover that there are exploited women there, they can be removed really quickly and safely to a place where they're able to escape it."
She added: "We need to keep them safe. Some people choose sex work and that's fine. I believe it is a woman's choice to do whatever she chooses to do with her body, but that has to be her choice and not controlled by somebody else. But it is an industry, and you've got to ask, how much autonomy do women have in that industry? And would those men running it be happy for their wives, daughters, sisters, or mothers to be working in that industry?"
Speaking about the additional dangers of the sex work industry being carried out behind closed doors, in properties that local authorities can struggle to keep an eye on, Cllr Bell added: "It's far more dangerous. And if anybody has got concerns, please get it reported."
