PSNI make first arrest on offence of paying for sex

Police in Northern Ireland have made their first arrest under the new law against paying for sex.

The North became the first part of the UK to ban payment for sexual services earlier this year.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable George Hamilton said a man had been detained during a raid on a suspected brothel.

He gave brief details of the arrest, which happened last month, when he addressed the Northern Ireland Policing Board in Belfast yesterday.

The change in the law was championed by DUP Assembly member Lord Morrow. It has been hailed by Christian groups, but denounced by prostitutes' representatives.

Paid-for consensual sex had previously been legal in Northern Ireland, although activities such as kerb-crawling, brothel-keeping and pimping were against the law. The ban has seen the North implement a prohibition similar to the model in Sweden.

In the Republic, new draft legislation on sexual offences published last month will criminalise paying for sex with prostitutes, but ensure the person offering sexual services is not guilty of a crime.

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has said proposals in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015, currently progressing through the Oireachtas, mirrored the approach adopted in Northern Ireland.

Mr Hamilton told the policing board: "Detectives from our human trafficking team conducting a brothel search and arrested a man for paying for sexual services - the first such arrest under Section 15 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act 2015.

“Three females were also arrested and interviewed for keeping a brothel.”

The PSNI said no further details on the operation, including the location, were being made public.

PA