‘Sam’, a client of Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), who supported the CWJ case in relation to the disclosure of historic convictions for street prostitution has won another court victory. Having gained confidence from campaigning to end the criminalisation of women in prostitution, she decided to report a former punter who violently attacked and raped her 23 years ago. Today (25 April 2025), a judge at Bristol Crown Court handed down a sentence to Inderjit Singh Bains of ten and a half years imprisonment and placed him on the sex offenders register for life. He commented that Bains had been reported to have told others in prison that he “enjoyed targeting and raping sex workers.”
In an impact statement read to the court, ‘Sam’ said:
“The immediate impact of this crime on me was so traumatic that I used heroin to suppress any emotional impact, the physical impacts of the attack healed after time, but the emotional impact will stay with me forever.
“The flashbacks, panic attacks and nightmares I have continue to this day. I truly thought I was going to die that night, that kind of trauma is not easily fixed.
“There is still so much judgement and stigma around women who are trapped in the lifestyle I was, that it’s easier to let people think I’m crazy, as how do I explain what happened to me?
“For me to come forward again all these years later was the hardest decision I had to make, as I didn’t trust the police or the justice system to take me or the crime against me seriously…I didn’t realise how much emotional trauma I’d locked away about the attack.”
Sam went on to praise the individual Operation Bluestone police officer who supported her and was “empathetic and non-judgmental”.
She has told CWJ she would never have come forward to report, if she had not gained confidence from being involved in the CWJ case and HOPE campaign aimed at expunging historic convictions for street prostitution. Through her involvement Sam said today:
“I was finally able to confront the stigma of having been prostituted and see it for the abuse and exploitation it was. This gave me the confidence to finally report this man. I hope some of his other victims now come forward to make further reports against him.”
Harriet Wistrich, Sam’s solicitor in the QSA case and Director of CWJ, praised Sam’s enormous courage and went on to say:
“Sam has transformed immensely over the past seven years since I first met her and she tentatively asked if she could join the case to help her get rid of the historic criminal convictions which have so blighted her life. She is now an extraordinary warrior and campaigner for reform.”
In the meantime, the campaign to repeal the crime of soliciting and loitering and expunge historic convictions continues. CWJ lodged a complaint with CEDAW[1] arguing that the continued criminalisation of this offence and retention of historic convictions is discriminatory and a human rights violation. The UK government is opposing this application and so far, despite the Government’s support when they were in opposition, they have not supported the reforms that Sam and others have pushed for. Tonia Antoniazzi MP, has tabled our amendments, along with other reforms in relation to prostitution to the Crime and Policing Bill currently in committee stage.
ENDS