Leeds girl escaped vice trap.

(From Yorkshire Evening Post)

Byline: Aisha Iqbal

But now the 30-year old from Armley, Leeds, is studying for an architecture degree.It's been a harrowing journey from the city's red light districts to the university halls. But many working girls, unlike Sharere, are not lucky enough to get out of the vice trap.Now Sharere wants prostitution legalised, to protect hundreds of prostitutes in Leeds from the violent side of the sex trade.Across the city there have been as many as 400 girls working as prostitutes. But, according to experts, that's just the tip of the iceberg and for many girls, getting out just isn't an option.SHARERE'S STORYAfter more than five years on the game, Sharere Kirk saw the sheer brutality of Leeds' vice trade up close and personal.Today Sharere is studying for a degree in Interior Architecture and Property Development at Wolverhampton University and looking forward to a bright future.But just two years ago she was hooked on heroin and desperate as she trawled the streets around Holbeck for her next customer and her next hit. The Yorkshire Evening Post spoke to her at that time when she was at her lowest ebb. She was so ashamed of her life back then, that she did not want to be identified.She is still haunted by those experiences and has blanked out much of what happened to her.But despite her own demons, one thing she believes from the heart... it's time the laws were changed."If it was legalised the girls would be getting the protection they need," she told the YEP."All the funding goes into the policies that don't work and the ones that do work aren't getting the funding."One minute police were arresting the girls and the next minute they moved on to kerb crawlers," she said."Some of the policies do work, but it's a bigger, longer term problem."By long-term, she means permanent.According to current law, selling sex itself is not a crime, however street prostitution is.A woman working alone indoors can sell her sexual services legally, however two women or more working together is classified as a brothel, and that is illegal.Campaigners are calling for a system similar to New Zealand, where prostitution has been decriminalised and mini brothels with up to four women are operating legally.Sharere worked the streets alongside women ranging in age from 15 up to 50. Her own descent into vice started at just 21.She was a normal, ambitious young woman, working as a kitchen designer for a major firm in west Leeds.She had her own home, great friends and family.And then, a dealer boyfriend, a few drug-addled weekends, and it all ...