13 JANUARY 2007, Page 21

Slavery figures

From Ted Nevill Sir: An interesting piece on the modern slave trade by Fraser Nelson (Politics, 30 December) was spoilt by uncritical use of police statistics. The police claim that four in five prostitutes come from overseas, but when they raid 300 brothels in Kent they find two dozen women suspected of being trafficked. Assuming each brothel had at least two women working there, this is four in every hundred. The idea that the police exaggerate is supported by the Home Office's estimate that there could be 'only' 4,000 victims of trafficking. There must be tens of thousands working in the sex industry if there are 300 brothels in Kent alone.

Ted Nevill Beith, Ayrshire