Family holiday homes found all over picturesque Derbyshire and the Peak District at large appear to be increasingly used as makeshift brothels, with gangsters luring Eastern European women into criminality on promises to employ them in catering businesses or virtual sex operators online, Right Reverend Dr. Alastair Redfern, 69, who serves as the Bishop of Derby told Derby Telegraph.
'Criminal networks have been setting up prostitutes in tourist resorts across the country, with temporary brothels found in Torquay, the Lake District (pictured) and the Peak District.' The soiling of healthful family Nature, is that it? pic.twitter.com/6Hc1LlZdhe
— Laura Agustín (@LauraAgustin) 27 декабря 2017 г.
"Derby is a place where Eastern European women have come in search for a better life, but they have been forced into working in brothels," the Bishop said.
He went on to say that Derby is a hot-spot for traffickers, who temporarily lease premises for their criminal enterprises and then disappear before anyone realizes what is happening.
Dr. Redfern, who has been cooperating with the House of Lords to toughen laws on this very sensitive issue, has hailed the work of Derbyshire police to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking in the county, but noted that their efforts are still gaining momentum.
Have you seen this @paulgerrard1971?
— Elaine Dean (@CoopElaine) 27 декабря 2017 г.
Our bishop does superb work 😇 @mycoopfood @mycooplife @coopuk https://t.co/QzHMMWTCI4
He sees yet another aspect to the problem in women being provided with an abundance of drugs so as to make them more docile and easier to control.
"She is offered drugs as that’s another way to exert control. She becomes addicted and then starts to lose everything," the Church of England bishop said.
"I have met a victim living in London who was raped 10 times a day. They have lost their dignity, lost their purpose. The promises they have been offered are broken. This is happening in Derby as well."
He has recalled another shocking episode, saying he once witnessed 20 trafficked people staying in a two-bedroom house in Normanton with just one toilet to share.
To top it off, victims are forced to work from morning to night without even knowing they are up for a range of benefits, which eventually wind up in the hands of criminal entities:
"The controllers and the owners are getting it all, while the victims are working all day for hardly any money. This is a serious and organized criminal business."
He is outraged with the way victims are being approached, noting that many of them are most certainly dealing with mental conditions as they are in constant fear of being nabbed and punished:
"They are being treated like animals. Their treatment is horrific. This is happening in our communities," the Bishop said.
"Some victims have mental health problems. They're vulnerable. They're controlled. They will think the police are out to get them and will treat them badly if they speak out. They will be living in fear. They have been groomed and brainwashed into that life."
Redfern sees the root of all evil in the general public opting for cheaper services, be it a nail bar or a brothel. It thus facilitates gangsters in their illegal action:
"The big change will come when everyone realizes this," the Bishop summed up.
READ MORE: Amazon, Microsoft Employees Bought Sex Services From Trafficked Women — Report
Redfern has called for the public to demonstrate a greater vigilance, however challenging it is, and be quick in recognizing the warning signs, which are now, sadly, on the rise:
"For the public it's difficult because it is quite usual to see groups of men get into a vehicle and drive around for work. It happens all the time. But the public need to look closer. Are they all leaving the same house?"
"We need to push back and take control of the problem. We all have enormous power," Redfern has resumed, rather upliftingly.
Quite a few stories of the charming and beautiful Peak District eventually turning into a new Red Light area have emerged on the internet in recent years. One of them came out in summer 2017 as Derby Telegraph assistant news editor Cheryl Hague shared her shock at finding prostitutes in her home for rent in Derbyshire, known to have fantastically diverse landscape and thus drawing tourists like a magnet. Back then she said her tenants completed the look of her semi-detached house with red bulbs, making it, literally, a brothel.
