SEX TRAFFICKED FOR OVER A DECADE

Angela Williams, 41, was subjected to the worst horror imaginable

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With his arm draped on my shoulder, my boyfriend Tyree, then 36, led me towards the hotel room door.

Opening it, he ushered me inside. The room was huge, a grand king-size bed sat in the middle with rose petals scattered on the sheets. And out on the balcony was the most stunning view of Las Vegas. But as I sat on the edge of the bed, I felt anything but excited to be spending the night there. Because just moments later, Tyree left, leaving the door open for a strange man to enter. In his 50s, balding, with a paunchy stomach, he leered at me, making me shudder with disgust behind my fake smile. He was a client and would be the first of at least half a dozen that night.

It was May 2015, and I was being forced to be a sex worker. And while Tyree had led me to believe he was my boyfriend, the reality was, he was my pimp - making money from prostituting me. Aged 30, this was never the life I'd planned. Growing up in a poverty-stricken part of Houston, Texas, where gang violence and drugs were rife, I'd been raised single-handedly by my mum. As a child, I'd dreamt of being a marine biologist. But after leaving school at 17 and moving into a small flat of my own, I struggled to find a job to earn a decent wage. I worked in a pizzeria and supermarket and eventually started working as a dancer in a strip club - I thought it'd help fund a real career, but even with the extra cash, I still struggled to keep up with rent and bills.