ANOTHER MURDER LIKE EMMA IS INEVITABLE

On International Women's Day, survey reveals assaults on 80% of prostitutes | Campaigners in chilling warning as they call for a crackdown on violent punters

- ANNE BROWN

SEX workers are facing horrific levels of violence according to a shocking new survey raising fears that Emma Caldwell's murder could be repeated.

The study among prostitutes in Glasgow found that 80 per cent had been subjected to a violent assault by men using them for sex.

And six per cent of the women surveyed had been a victim of an attempted murder by a punter.

Today as Scotland marks International Women's Day campaigners are demanding action to crackdown on men who attack women in the sex industry. Linda Thompson, National Coordinator Women's Support Project, said the survey showed the daily dangers faced by women in prostitution and a failure to tackle the problem.

She said: "Nineteen years after Emma's murder, the violence against women involved in prostitution remains high. Another murder like Emma's is inevitable.

"Most of these crimes are not even reported to the police meaning there are men out there not being held accountable for violence and who are free to carry on harming women again and again.

"All women. Any one of the attempted murders noted in the survey could have been another Emma." The snapshot survey from Encompass Network, a coalition of seven Scottish services supporting women involved in prostitution, questioned 53 women seeking help across one week.