PROSTITUTES are selling sex from homes on Oxford’s largest estate, police have warned.

Officers on Blackbird Leys revealed they are investigating claims sex workers are trading from private homes after receiving tip-offs from members of the public.

People on the estate said they were shocked – claiming it was the first time prostitution had been associated with the 52-year-old estate.

It is not known where the prostitutes are operating from or how long the problem has been going on.

Blackbird Leys Sgt Rob Axe said: “It’s something we’ve been aware of recently, it’s just come on the radar on the estate and we are in the early stages of investigating it at the moment. We’re trying to find out where the hotspot is.

“We’ve had intelligence to suggest they’re coming on the estate and doing business in private dwellings.”

Sgt Axe said tackling prostitution often required help from local councils, social services and drug workers.

He said: “I don’t know if it’s girls or it might be males, but a lot of them often depend on substance abuse. Initially a multi-agency approach is the best way of tackling it.

“If they are working in houses, they can expect a knock on the door from us.”

Community leaders reacted with surprise to the news.

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, who lives on the estate, said: “I’m glad the police are taking positive action on the information they are getting from local residents.

“The alleged scale of the problem comes as bit of a surprise, though, because I, local Labour councillors and supporters have called round hundreds of houses all over Blackbird Leys in the last few weeks and complaints about prostitution have hardly been raised with us, if at all.

“As MP I get many more complaints about prostitution in other areas, for example Cowley Road or Oxford Road.

“Any law-breaking in relation to prostitution must be tackled, but in Blackbird Leys I would say issues like drug dealing, youths congregating outside shops and dangerous dogs have been bigger causes of complaint than prostitution.”

Gerry Webb, chairman of Blackbird Leys Parish Council, said: “I was gobsmacked when I heard.

“You’re used to reading about that sort of thing in Headington or Cowley, not Blackbird Leys, but at the same time, there are so many people in Blackbird Leys, we shouldn’t be surprised.

“I have lived on the estate for a long time and I’ve never heard of it happening.

“Blackbird Leys is a family estate and this isn’t the kind of thing you want happening next door to you.”

Father David Hartley, from Church of the Sacred Heart in Balfour Road, added: “I’m aware of issues in other areas of the city, but I didn’t know prostitution was something that affected Blackbird Leys.”