They arrive at Victoria or King's Cross train stations, a steady trickle of uncertain young women carrying overnight bags stuffed with all that's needed for a new life. Leaving home with a feeling of wanting to be "anywhere but here" they arrive in the capital, knowing no-one and with nowhere to go. After a few hours trying to make sense of the chaos, a man approaches, makes a joke and offers to buy them a coffee. He helps them find a flat, and instantly becomes their ally and protector.
Liz Warrior, the manager of the New Horizon Youth Centre, near London's King's Cross offers this apparently innocuous exchange as a typical everyday scenario on the streets around the station. "Not all young women who come to London set out to become prostitutes," she says. "There are men whose sole occupation it is to spot vulnerable women and befriend them."
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