Court orders will bar prostitutes and pimps from Brixton

PIMPS and prostitutes blighting a residential area of Brixton are to be issued with court injunctions to keep them off the streets in a purge by council chiefs and police in Lambeth.

The civil court orders will also be given to kerb crawlers and drug dealers who are helping to fuel red-light trade and will bar the recipients from the area for an unlimited period.

Anyone who fails to comply with their injunction issued under local government powers will face prosecution and a potential fine or prison sentence. The council believes that the use of injunctions could prove effective in cases in which a clear nuisance is occurring, but it is difficult to obtain sufficient proof to secure a criminal conviction.

Superintendent David Musker of Lambeth Police said: "Street sex workers and the men who target such vulnerable women cause significant anti-social behaviour." Six pimps and prostitutes are already due to be issued with injunctions.

The area affected covers Josephine Avenue, Brixton Hill and other nearby streets which have suffered continuing problems with on street prostitution in recent years.

Other efforts to tackle prostitution in Lambeth are continuing. Last year police in the borough wrote to 155 kerb crawlers at their home addresses warning them they had been spotted in a red-light area.