A sex worker has spoken about the dangerous reality of escorting after being "dragged by a car for 100 yards down a city centre road" and being "held hostage with a cricket bat" in a second attack. Victoria Holcombe is now calling for urgent changes to the law.
The 40-year-old is planning to take her case to the High Court, urging the Government to allow sex workers in the UK to work in pairs for their safety, as they do in Amsterdam. It's not illegal to sell sex in this country, though it is a crime to solicit for prostitution and own or run a brothel. She asked: "I earned £52,000 last year and paid £3,500 tax a month equivalent so why are we not allowed to work in twos?
"We're women, we're 5ft5in, we're not big people. We're quite often dressed in f*** all as well. I'm on the front line taking this crap, why should I have it?"
She says she has no issues with the vast majority of her clients, many of whom she says have stories which are "so sad" she leaves the booking in tears. "I've left clients' houses crying because I felt so sorry for them," she said.
But she also says she has been attacked twice, saying she was "dragged down the road by a car the first time." Victoria, from Birmingham, who then worked for an agency, had been on a "half an hour booking" at the time of the first incident on September 27.
After the agency dropped her at the apartment in George Street in Birmingham city centre she was left to do the job alone, she told Birmingham Live.
"That doesn't give you any protection as the law states you have to work by yourself," she said. "I was doing the booking and he's stolen my handbag and ran out the apartment, so I've chased him up the road. I obviously had to put my clothes on first so I was a couple of seconds behind him, I chased him up the road and basically he's got into the car, that gave me a couple of minutes to catch up as he was slowed down.
"I put my arm through the window to try and get the bag back because it was open slightly; that's when he sped off with me attached to the car. I was dragged about 100 yards because my arm was stuck in the window."
The incident was reported to West Midlands Police by a dog walker who had witnessed her "being dragged by the car", she said.
Despite the 'rules' of wearing heels as an escort, she fortunately wore flat knee high boots that night, protecting her feet. She said: "I was very lucky I was wearing those. Police have got photos of my injuries, all my face was smashed up where I hit it on the pavement."
In a second attack, she says she was held hostage in her flat. Of the May 12 incident, she recalled: "He tried to play 'I really like you, can I stay longer?' And at the end of the session, at around 5.05pm, he just started beating me up saying he wanted his money back. He held me hostage in the room with a cricket bat, we were fighting in the street because he tried to nick my phone.
"He's tried to rob my house, he's nicked my tobacco, he's tried to run off with my scooter. I said: 'You can f***ing take that, nobody uses that'. "He didn't take it as he realised he couldn't run with it, it was too heavy and it wasn't charged. He's come out into the street and thrown all my handbag all over the floor."
Victoria said she suffered a fractured cheek bone in the incident. Birmingham Live has contacted West Midlands Police for a comment.
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