Lifestyle of Rochdale sex workers shown in gritty documentary

The less-than-glamourous lifestyle of three Rochdale sex workers was shown in a gritty Channel 5 documentary on Wednesday (23 May).

The third of a series, the final episode of The Sex Business follows six women who sell their bodies on the streets of Britain, each of whom have suffered a litany of sexual and mental abuse, and consequently manage serious addictions.

Locally, ‘Working the Streets’ follows Fiona, Melanie and Twombi, three women who are all addicts.

Fiona, who has a £60-per-day heroin addiction, says that when she started out, she was “pulling in £100 in a couple of hours”.

She explained: “It’s that new face, but now we all have our own regulars, and we just rely on them and it’s £20 a pop. A couple of them a night and you’re laughing. I’ll get £20 quid and go and score. You’re on a constant mission for £20 in life.”

Having worked on the streets for three years, she said: “I may be a prostitute, but it doesn’t make me a bad person, does it? It’s just a way to feed my habit and I’m an addict, you know, and that’s my first and foremost love. It’s what I live for.”

Crying, Fiona said: “I had a normal life; I had three boys, and then this… and heroin won. It’s the devil’s drug. I hate it, I can’t give it up, i controls my life. I lost everything. I never thought I would go so low to sell my body.

“My husband died and my kids are there, but I still choose heroin. I need to be a mum again, but heroin wins every time.”

Fiona explained she ‘just started taking it one day and never stopped’, losing ‘everything’ within six months.

Twombi, whose boyfriend of two-months, Francis, acts as her minder, fell into the lifestyle after a friend stayed with her and introduced her to working on the street. Her children are now in care.

She admitted: “Every man looked at me. I felt wanted all the time. Since then, I’ve been a prostitute. Sometimes you get picked up and you make more money.

“Sometimes you risk your life. You don’t know what’s going to happen to you.”

Whilst filming, Francis told the crews that whilst they were being interviewed, Twombi, who has worked the streets for five years, would lose money.

He said: “Every second that you’re keeping her here, not only is she losing money – the later it gets, the less punters are out. The more we’re going to suffer, the longer you keep us out.

“I’m not telling you what to do because it’s nice to show people what does go on. It does need to be seen.”

Showing off a knife, he said: “I carry this specially, that blade there mate. That’s for any man that looks at her funny – I’ll cut their throat.”

Twombi said: “I use the drink to make myself feel better, to sleep with them because I don’t enjoy it any more."

Francis later showed a softer side, telling the cameras that he panics because Twombi “only does it out of necessity”.

He added: “Every car she gets in, she might not come back.”

After an argument, Francis said: “It’s hard because we’re both homeless and on drugs. I wish I could make it easier for her, you know, I wish she didn’t have to do what she does. I suppose if I’m honest, she’s in denial. I believe in my head that when she’s doing her business she’s got no feelings for them.

“She can have sex with punters on the beat, and I don’t mind, but if she kissed them, it’s different. Then I’d get jealous.”

Melanie, who spends most nights on the streets of Rochdale, has also had a grim experience, having been both raped and robbed after being spiked. She has lost her house and says she is extremely close to killing herself.

She said: “It’s just buckie, street life and drugs. It’s a bad life. I wouldn’t wish this on any girl.

“You’ve got nowhere to live and you’re here, there and everywhere. What do you do? I just go from day to day. All I want is a house, a job and I want me kids. I’m risking my life every day walking up and down here and it’s not nice. It’s horrible and I’m too good for all this.

“Every corner you go, you’ve got prostitutes, you’ve got drinkers, you’ve got drugs.”

She added: “Every day the girls are putting their lives in danger. You don’t know whose car you’re getting in and you don’t know who you’re walking off with. They could pull anything out on you, they could rape you.

Returning after walking off with a punter, Melanie, who has three children, was thrown against the wall and had her lip split.

She said: “I were shaking. It annoys you. People think because you’re a prostitute that it’s all right for them to go and grab you. It’s bad, seriously, that’s how bad it is. People think you’re a prostitute, they can go touch you. Does your head in.”

"The ones that you think are alright, you think everything’s going to be okay, sometimes you can be wrong."

She admitted she always carries ‘something’ on her for defence, such as a pen.

She added: “It is dangerous, it really is.”

Melanie has since made changes, moving to Burnley and kicking her drug habit. She still sells sex whilst she detoxes and plans to stop when she has sorted her life out.

Fiona and Twombi still work on Rochdale’s streets.

Watch The Sex Business: Working the Streets:

https://www.my5.tv/the-sex-business/season-1/episode-3