WORTHING ... THE SLAVE MARKET TO THE WORLD

IT is the seaside town that has hit the headlines as the jackpot capital of Britain with seven winners collecting an amazing pounds 22million on the lottery.

Yet Worthing has a darker and seamier side, a world away from those welcoming bed and breakfast signs and manicured bowling greens.

The sedate resort on the South Coast has become an unlikely staging post in an international slave market that sells girls as young as 15 into prostitution. Ten girls in Worthing and the neighbouring resort of Hove have literally vanished off the face of earth and detectives are convinced they are now working for pimps in Northern Italy.

Softy-spoken Ivie Ajayi was the latest girl to disappear. Just 15, she was found on her own wondering around the arrivals lounge at Gatwick Airport on Christmas Day.

All she had with her was a small bag and very little money.

Ivie told immigration officers she was fleeing from her homeland of Nigeria. But she became very distressed when she was asked about her family.

The officers halted their questioning and social services were called in. Then, as in other asylum cases involving children, she was taken to a social services hostel.

In the following days Ivie was allowed to come and go from her room at Cedar House, Worthing, while staff tried to piece together her story.

Then just two weeks after arriving in Britain, she walked out of the hostel and never returned, leaving behind most of her few possessions.

For Detective Chief Inspector David Gaylor it was a case of history repeating itself.

Ivie joined Esohe Imina, 17; Joyce Fusin, 17; Queen Ester Osaqui, 17; Joy Russell, 17; Marise John, 17; Edith Johnson, 17; Manderlie Winncie, 17; Tina Christopher, 16; and Precious Alabi, 15. All have disappeared in the last 18 months.

So far not one of the girls has turned up, adding to Mr Gaylor's belief of a foreign connection. And long distance British lorry drivers have reported seeing girls like those who were missing working as prostitutes at lorry parks in the north of Italy.

"We always thought they left the country because none of them has come to the attention of the authorities since they disappeared," he said.

"If they had all gone to London, the chances are that at least one of them would have contacted either social security, the police or social services. But none of them has."

In some cases the girls were in Britain just two days before slipping into the night, never to return.

The first to vanish was Esohe Imina, who arrived on a flight from Nigeria.

She disappeared in August 1996, after being in Britain a month. A further eight disappeared last year.

Mr Gaylor said the brief time the girls were in Britain suggested they had already been recruited by gangs in Africa before they touched down.

"There is nothing to suggest they are being approached here," he said. "Many of the girls have not been around long enough for a stranger to gain their trust. It is likely they knew what was going to happen to them before they arrived here.

"They turn up, possibly with a contact phone number, with arrangements already made for them to disappear.

"There is no madman out there abducting them."

He added: "We can only speculate why they come to England first, rather than fly straight to Italy.

"But some European countries have embargoes on flights leaving certain African states.

"Britain is an easier place to get to and once here they can move on." The police inquiries are extremely difficult because little is known of the girls. In many cases they can not even prove who they claim to be.

Joan Simmons, one of the staff at Cedar House remembers Ivie as an attractive, well-dressed girl who was polite but very secretive about her life back in Africa.

Joan said: "Ivie seemed quite confident for her age and had a fairly good grasp of English.

"But she was very wary about what she was saying and didn't really want to get drawn into a conversation with staff about her past life.

"She did get very distressed when she first arrived and mentioned her family. But she never went into details.

"She kept herself to herself most of the time she was here. Unlike most of the children, she didn't seem interested in going to college."

Mr Gaylor added: "The difficulty is that in usual missing person cases you can check with familyand friends to build a picture.

"But in these cases we have so little to go on."

Special squad probe the Italian connection

A SPECIAL task force has been set up to investigate the fears that the missing girls have been sold into a life of prostitution in Italy.

Police, social services, the National Missing Persons' Helpline, the Immigration Service and the Refugee Council are all working together with Interpol. Home Office Minister Lord Williams has also promised action. "The disappearance of asylum seekers is something that concerns us greatly," he said.

Last year nearly 1,000 of the 32,500 asylum seekers who entered Britain were children.

Under the law, those under 18 cannot be kept in detention centres while their application for asylum are considered.

All are treated the same as homeless British children and cared for by the local social services department.

West Sussex social services are responsible for young asylum seekers arriving at Gatwick. They are currently looking after 71 children. Spokeswoman Elizabeth Little said: "Most of them arrive empty-handed and really traumatised. Many have heartbreaking stories of persecution and torture in their own countries.

"A lot of them go to school to continue their education or to improve their English. Because of this, there's little we can do to stop them taking off, if that's what they want to do."

Terry Smith, of the Refugee Council, says the young asylum seekers are now being warned of the dangers of going off alone once they reach Britain.

"If someone is offering these girls a better life in Europe you can be sure the reality is not at all what they expected." Juliet Singer, of the National Missing Persons Helpline, said: "It's a complete mystery and we are all very concerned for the safety of these young and very vulnerable people."

If you have information you can contact the National Missing Persons Helpline free on: 0500 700700.

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