With more than 4,000 women working in the UK as a result of sex trafficking at any one time, there are now concerns about how widespread a problem it is in Brighton and Hove. Ruth Addicott talks exclusively to one victim about her extraordinary story and finds out what is being done to stop this trade.

Slamming the car door behind her, Stephanie (not her real name) didn't look back, she just ran. Having been bought and sold to sex traffickers by her aunt in Nigeria aged only 15, she suddenly found herself alone in a foreign country, a million miles from home. All she knew was she had to escape.

"All he kept saying was, You're going to pay me back the money'," she says.

The minute her captor stopped the car to go into a supermarket, she threw open the door and fled.

Terrified of being followed, knowing she could be killed if she was caught, she fought back tears and ran and ran.

She remembers screaming, Help me, somebody, help me,' until a stranger on Ship Street in central Brighton finally stopped and directing her to a shop nearby. She ran in, begging the staff to lock the doors to stop her captor finding her. It wasn't until she saw the blue lights flashing outside and a female police officer that her heartbeat began to slow and she finally found out where she was.

"I said, Where is Brighton?'," she recalls. "They said, It's in England, you're in England."

As extraordinary as it may sound, this is one woman breaking free of sex traffickers in Brighton.

When I meet Stephanie today, she is a totally different person to the traumatised teenager who arrived in Brighton two years ago. Calmly spoken and with a baby on her knee, at just 17 years old, it seems incredible someone so young could have been through so much.

Disturbingly, her story is not unique.

Stephanie counts four friends aged between 17 and 20 in Brighton who have had similar experiences. While she was fortunate enough to escape after three months, some of her friends had to endure the ordeal for much longer.

According to the Home Office, there are about 4,000 women in the UK caught up in sex trafficking at any one time, although support groups claim the number is closer to 8,000.

Along with the opening up of the EU, Brighton's proximity to Gatwick and its vibrant sex industry, the city is a prime target.

Sussex Police are visiting brothels to assess the scale of the problem on an almost weekly basis and support groups, who hear from the victims first hand, say the cases discovered so far are only the "tip of the iceberg".

Stephanie was born and brought up in Nigeria. She has never known her parents (she was told they were dead) and lived with her younger sister and aunt. It was her aunt, however, who was largely responsible for her fate.

Poverty stricken, Stephanie was forced into prostitution at the age of 12, her aunt claiming it was the only way she could afford to keep her.

Subjected to regular beatings at home and unable to trust the police - some of whom were clients - she had nowhere else to go.

"I was terrified," she says. "My aunt used to beat me all the time, sometimes with a stick or a cane - I still have the scars today."

At 15, just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, her aunt sold her to a Nigerian man she knows only as Jon.

"He came to the house and offered my aunt money," she recalls. "He then told me to pack a bag and said I had to go with him. I didn't want to but there was nowhere to run to. I had nobody."

All Stephanie knew was they would be going to Italy, where she would have to work and pay him back the 50,000 euros he claimed she owed for the trip. She was briefly handed a fake passport then, after a brief stop in Italy, they boarded a plane for the UK. On arrival, she was taken to a flat where she was forced to have sex and beaten.

"He said he wanted to know if I was comfortable with the job I would be doing," she says. "I was so scared of him, I just did what he said. I didn't know if he wanted to kill me or beat me. I knew my life was going to be awful. All I could think about was how to escape."

One night, when he was asleep, her chance finally came and Stephanie made a bid for the door.

"I didn't close it properly because I didn't want to wake him," she recalls.

"I tried to be as quiet as I could and once I was outside I just ran and ran.

I kept running until I found a young Nigerian man in the street. I started crying and begged him to help me.

He asked me my name so I told him and I said I had been a victim of sex trafficking. I was so scared.

"He said I could go back to his place.

I was confused but I thought if I slept with him maybe he would help me.

I had nothing else to offer. He agreed and took advantage and straight afterwards told me to leave. He said, Sorry, I can't help you'."

Alone in a strange country with no money and nowhere to turn, Stephanie retraced her steps and went back to Jon. Still asleep, he didn't even realise she'd gone. She was kept at the flat three months, before she was told to pack her bag and driven to a new city. The destination, unknown to her, was Brighton.

After escaping and being helped by the stranger in Ship Street, Stephanie was subsequently taken into care by social services and discovered a few weeks later she was three months pregnant. (She believes the father was the stranger who'd used her for sex).

While she was encouraged to have an abortion, she refused.

"I don't have a mother or father, I don't even see my sister, but at least I'm not alone in the world now. I have my baby boy," she says.

For 12 months after she was rescued, Stephanie was too frightened to leave the house, fearing she'd run into Jon.

Over the past two years, she has managed to build a new life, studying part time, and her son has given her a new sense of self-worth.

"My life is getting better and I'm happy," she says. "I need to be a good mum so my child can have the life he deserves."

City Light is one of the main support groups for victims of sex trafficking in Brighton and according to cofounder Samantha Godec, the area is an obvious target.

"Demand for sexual services is high because of the number of people visiting the city at the weekends. When that is not being satisfied by the local population, traffickers are going to bring in their women," she says.

City Light is visiting brothels alongside police in an attempt to help the growing problem in Brighton.

In addition to weekly visits, Sussex Police do more extensive checks every three months, sometimes to six or seven brothels a night.

Samantha says the joint initiative is proving effective as many women have had bad experiences of policing in their own countries and are only just beginning to realise they can trust the authorities here.

She says they have come across girls in potential trafficking situations on quite a few occasions.

"We haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg," she says. "I think there is a lot more out there we are not aware of."

Disturbingly, the younger the age, the more profit traffickers can make - with some being sold on for up to £8,000.

One of the main causes for trafficking is poverty. As Samantha says, many women are made false promises they'll be able to send money back to their families. When they arrive, it is a completely different story, with some being forced to have sex with up to 40 strangers a day.

City Light provides clothing, toiletries, temporary accommodation and access to legal advice. During visits to the brothels, girls are also handed cards with a 24-hour emergency support line. The fact they can remain anonymous has been a big factor.

Samantha says the visits almost always prompt follow-up calls and the ultimate aim is to set up an outreach and accommodation service.

Detective Inspector Clare Shiel from Sussex Police has also been investigating the extent of sex trafficking in the city. Police in Brighton have only dealt with a dozen or so cases in the past year but there could be hundreds going undetected because of the reluctance of victims to come forward.

Many women fear deportation and that the traffickers will take revenge on their families. In addition to that, there is the stigma - if their families find out they have been involved in prostitution they will often be disowned.

"We have found girls from Eastern Europe and West Africa who have come in to be sex workers and I am sure we will come across more. We are only scratching the surface," DI Shiel says.

"The strategy now is to get in with the girls of the brothels. We may have been a bit heavy handed in the past, executing warrants, but the ethos now is we're not looking to criminalise the girls who work there but take out the people who exploit them. We'll go in, talk to the girls and offer them a route out. Just because you're a prostitute doesn't mean you can't report a sexual assault and that's the message we want to give out."

Sussex Police have also made a conscious decision not to involve immigration in the visits, hoping it will dispel initial fears of deportation.

The other challenge is pin-pointing where it is happening. DI Shiel notes: "It's quite easy to rent a place and use it as a brothel in Brighton, then move on to Eastbourne, Hastings or Kent. That is very difficult to track down."

Police are now appealing to men who go to the brothels to report any signs of possible trafficking.

"We are making strides but we need people to tell us," she says. "We're not going to think you're a horrible old pervert and come knocking on your door to interrogate you in front of your wife because that's none of our business. If you suspect sex trafficking, call Crimestoppers anonymously."

Another resource police are using to track down potential victims is the website Punternet where men post "reviews" of the prostitutes they've visited. There are currently about 320 girls listed in Brighton and Hove.

As far as the support services go, however, the biggest issue locally is the shortage of housing. Coming from outside the EU, many of the victims are not eligible for benefits or beds at safe houses such as the Women's Refuge.

The Poppy Project, in London, is the only dedicated charity providing shelter for victims of sex trafficking and only has 35 beds. With potentially 8,000 women at risk in the UK, it is not nearly enough.

While City Light says there is nowhere suitable for victims to stay in Brighton, DI Shiel claims victims will always be housed. "We would put them up locally. We will always find somewhere. We have put them up in a hotel before," she says.

While there is an obvious need for funding, Anna Bowden from the Poppy Project says there is also a need to tackle demand.

"Men need to stop buying women's bodies and women need to stop turning a blind eye to a partner or brother who buys sex," she says.

Research shows one in ten men buys sex and, as Anna observes: "The profile is a mid-30s married man with a mortgage in the suburbs.

"The stereotype of the seedy man in the raincoat is obsolete."

Despite the stigma and risk of deportation, Stephanie hopes her story will encourage other women in similar situations to come forward. "I would tell them to be brave and go to the police," she says.

Her only concern now is for the welfare of her 15-year-old sister, back in Nigeria, who she believes has also been forced into prostitution and could potentially be months away from trafficking.

Warned not to go back for her own safety, Stephanie is desperately worried, yet powerless to help.

City Light - 01273 221140 www.citylight.org.uk
Brighton Oasis Project - 01273 604246 www.oasisproject.org.uk
Poppy Project - 0207 840 7129 www.eaves4women.co.uk
Crimestoppers - 0800 555 111