When I was 16, my mum forced me to sleep with men to pay for our flat in Romania. One client, Sorin, suggested babysitting work in the UK. Mum wanted us to go but I didn’t trust him when he provided a false ID. Sorin drove us from the airport to a house in Birmingham. There, a man and woman controlled three girls who worked for them in their spa salon doing massage. I was bought vulgar clothes, taught bad English words. They called me Roxie. It wasn’t massage we did in the spa, but other things. I was forced to provide sexual services for more than a year. One day the police saw me with my make-up on getting out of a car. They asked questions. I didn’t understand English. They took me to a police station. I spent the night in a cell. I told them everything through an interpreter. I testified against the traffickers. I was placed in local authority care, the traffickers nearly kidnapped me from there. I am now on a hairdressing course and 18. My future is uncertain.
As told to the Human Trafficking Foundation
