THOUSANDS of men could face prosecution for rape for having sex with trafficked prostitutes under sweeping government plans to crack down on the illegal trade.

Ministers are increasingly alarmed at the soaring numbers of women tricked into the sex trade by criminal gangs and working as prostitutes against their will.

Beaten, raped and in fear for their lives, trafficked women have changed the face of prostitution in Britain, and the Government believes that a radical new approach is needed to stamp out the trade.

Last week a new ministerial committee met to discuss trafficking, a sign that the problem is being taken increasingly seriously across the Government.

The drive is being led by Harriet Harman, the Solicitor- General, and Caroline Flint, a Home Office Minister who is conducting a review of prostitution. At the meeting it was agreed that ministers would make human trafficking a priority for its six-month presidency of the EU from July this year.

They also agreed to step up support services for trafficked women. There is currently only one charity, the Poppy Project, which offers refuge and its accommodation is always full.

Ministers also discussed whether the law was sufficient to prosecute clients for rape successfully. The Sexual Offences Act passed in 2003 toughened the law by setting out, for the first time, a statutory definition of consent. Consent requires that a person “agrees by choice to the sexual activity and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice”.

The Government believes that the law is enough to secure prosecutions for rape, but officials do not rule out new legislation if this proves difficult.

“We think it is all there but we will be guided by the prosecutors,” one senior Whitehall official said. Trafficked women have been important witnesses in the prosecution of traffickers, most recently of the Albanian gangmaster Vullnet Ismailaj who made a fortune trafficking young women into Soho. He was jailed for 11 years last week.

During these trials it emerged that trafficked women frequently told clients that they were being held against their will and begged for help to escape. In most cases the client had sex anyway despite their pleas, raising the prospect of a rape charge being brought.

Moves to prosecute clients would mark a radical departure in the way prostitution has been handled for decades. Traditionally, punters walk free and prostitutes are cautioned. In the future, police could arrest clients if they believe that women were being held against their will.

The most recent data suggests that in 2002 1,400 women were trafficked into Britain for sex and the Poppy Project believes that that figure has doubled. A report from the project says there are 730 flats, saunas and escort agencies selling sex in London alone.

About 80 per cent of prostitutes in the capital are foreign citizens, although not all are working against their will. Before Britain’s EU presidency, ministers have held meetings with EU members urging them to galvanise their prosecutors. Eastern European traffickers typically move prostitutes from one EU country to another.

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