A Christian news organisation is stepping up the campaign to persuade newspaper publishers not to print sex trade adverts.

Premier Christian Media has launched 'Not For Sale' in a bid to draw attention to the estimated 10,000 women held against their will and treated as sex slaves in the UK.

Campaign head Peter Kerridge said: "We know that something like 50pc of the demand for sex trafficking comes from newspaper adverts.

"If you stop them, you stop the trafficking. Around £44m is made from brothels advertising in newspapers.

"In most towns there will be some publication which still does it.

"If you'd asked me a year ago about the kind of folk who work in massage parlours and brothels, I wouldn't have been able to tell you that they were trafficked women.

"Now we now that they are, what are we going to do about it? That's the drive of the campaign."

In the past year, two newspaper publishers – MEN Media and Newsquest - have banned all adverts for 'adult services' from its newspapers and Premier Christian Media is calling for others to follow suit.

The Newspaper Society has also worked with MPs to revise its guidance on advertising to newspapers.

Some papers were accused of hypocrisy for running stories exposing brothels on the front page but carrying adverts for them in the classifieds.

Premier Christian Media has a dedicated section on its website with a short film and petition for supporters to sign.

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