A group of former prostitutes have taken a groundbreaking legal challenge to the high court, arguing that government policy criminalises victims of abuse and trafficking.

The women argue they have been stigmatised by the existing law, which requires people convicted of crimes to disclose their past when applying for a range of jobs or volunteering activity after DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks.

It is the first time the system of recording and disclosing convictions has been challenged on the grounds of gender discrimination, said Harriet Wistrich, the women’s solicitor.

The women argue that it is unlawful to record and disclose criminal convictions for soliciting offences, saying it is discriminatory and breaches their right to a private life.

Sitting in front of Lord Justice Holroyde and Mrs Justice Davies, Karon Monaghan QC, the women’s barrister, said they were “groomed years ago when they were young and vulnerable”, with two of the claimants groomed while they were in local authority care. “Their experiences were extremely distressing and it took them considerable effort and fortitude to exit prostitution which they did many, many years ago,” she said.

Lawyers representing the women argue that they are victims of trafficking, and that the requirement to disclose past convictions is at odds with government anti-trafficking policy.

“It is entirely outmoded that we are still penalising women for street prostitution offences, many of which happened many years ago,” said Wistrich. “It is out of sync with current understanding that those women are often victims of abuse rather than perpetrators of crime.

“The women in this case all exited prostitution many years ago but continue to be blighted. It is grotesquely unjust that these convictions are still following them around.”

Many street prostitutes had been groomed, coerced and trafficked, she said. “As such this policy is inconsistent with the Modern Slavery Act because it continues to punish victims.”

Wistrich added that women leaving street prostitution could have as many as 100 convictions, amounting to many pages to explain to prospective employers.

Currently some criminal convictions are wiped from a record after a certain period of time. But in the case of repeat convictions or for jobs with contact with vulnerable people, such as care work or work with children, convictions have to be revealed no matter how long ago they happened.

Some women giving evidence for the case have described not being allowed to volunteer with groups such as the Brownies. “People misunderstand prostitution and think a conviction is a sex offence, and think these women should be treated like sex offenders,” said Heather Harvey, from anti-violence against women charity Nia, which is supporting the claimants.

Alongside campaigners outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday, she added: A lot of women exiting prostitution and trying to build a new life may not have much choice. But if they look for care work, or childcare – all these require an enhanced DBS check. So it is doubly discriminatory.”

Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality party, said: “Evidence shows that having a criminal record is one of the main barriers to women exiting prostitution.”

Karen Ingala-Smith, of Nia, said that while the grooming of children was better understood following the publicity around cases in places like Rotherham, its longlasting impact was not. “When girls are groomed as children it is wrong, but when those girls turn 18 they are magically considered to be consenting adults,” she said.

“I was a vulnerable girl of 16 – but the police criminalised me”

Fiona Broadfoot, now 49, was 15 when she met the pimp who groomed her and put her to work as a prostitute. She was 16 and a half when she was first arrested. “I had already been in prostitution for 18 months then,” she says. “I was a vulnerable girl with an adult man. Police knew him by his first name, but the police criminalised me and he walked free.”



She was put in juvenile detention for three months, but was deemed too old for schooling. “I was treated as a naughty girl, and not allowed education. I had to work in the kitchen and the laundry,” she says. “My parents came every Sunday. They brought me a bar of chocolate and we sat in a room. [But] I had gone mad. I had been violated in a hideous way for 18 months. I wasn’t Fiona any more.”

Over the next 11 years she amassed nearly 50 convictions, which today take up eight double-sided pages. Wanting to exit prostitution, she started a childcare course. But when it came to her placement her past was revealed and she says she was “frogmarched” off the school’s premises.

“When they see a criminal record – an eight-page double-sided criminal record – you can imagine what people’s reactions are,” she says. “They see a catalogue of offences.”

More recently, having set up a social enterprise, she had to explain her criminal record to two male members of a council. “It was a humiliating meeting,” she says. “I had to explain why I had all these convictions. It was as if they were taking precautions in case I’d do something. It was awful. It’s bad enough having to talk about one incident of abuse, never mind a catalogue.”

Broadfoot became an activist and campaigns for the implementation of the Nordic system, which criminalises purchasers of sex. “I am an activist – it’s up to me to choose to speak about it,” she says. “But I had to go public. I am compelled to for the women who can’t.

“It doesn’t mean that takes away the impact of how horrible it makes me feel. But I turned it on its head and said, what I have I got to lose? This is who I am.”