Nurse earning £36,000 a year reveals she has become a ‘full-service escort’ on days off after being crippled by debt

A nurse earning £36,000 a year is secretly working as a ‘full service escort’ on her days off in a bid to solve her financial woes.

The woman, who uses the pseudonym Katie, turned to sex work after racking up debts from a former relationship and facing rising housing costs.

Katie, who has been a nurse for more than a decade, spoke to Channel 4 about the new Dispatches documentary ‘Hunting Debt Hunters’, which airs at 8pm tonight.

The program examines how the cost of living crisis is affecting the public as more people turn to illegal lenders and loan sharks who charge exorbitant interest rates.

Katie said: ‘I was starting to panic, thinking ‘How am I going to maintain my mortgage and my expenses?’ ‘Things have always been a bit difficult, but nothing like this time.’

The nurse explained how her journey into sex work began when she noticed an advert recruiting women to livestream sexual content on social media.

Katie said: ‘I was just thinking, I just need the money. Then a few months later I had a bill on my car that I couldn’t pay. And then some guys were like “oh, do you escort?”

‘That led me to thinking, ‘maybe, maybe I could deal with one or two clients a week – then maybe that would be a little more helpful.’ ‘It’s kind of spiraled since then.’

Katie (left) showed reporter Ellie Flynn (right) her online escort profile where clients can find her

For the past two years, Katie has been balancing full-time shifts as a nurse and secretly working as a self-described “full-service escort” on her days off.

He said: ‘I remember the first day I met someone; I was so nervous I thought ‘what am I doing?’ But I just thought, ‘I need this, I need to make money, I can’t keep surviving like this.’

Customers find Katie through her profile on a website. When she’s not working as a nurse, she sees two or three people a day; normally meet at their home or hotel.

When asked if he was afraid, he said: ‘Yes, all the time. As I was about to knock on the door I thought, “Oh my God, here we go again.” This feeling has never disappeared for me.

‘Deep down, I carry a lot of shame. I just think, “If only someone knew I was doing this.” But I do this for a reason. This isn’t something anyone needs to know.’

Asked if she wanted to give up, Katie added: ‘Yes, I would. I feel like I’m working all the time, like I’m on the hamster wheel. It’s brutal and the cost of everything is increasing. ‘I actually don’t know when I’ll be able to give it up.’

Reporter Ellie Flynn spoke to other people involved in exploitative and dangerous situations and uncovered the trend of more people finding loan sharks through social media because their low credit scores mean they can’t get traditional loans.

Online sexual predators have been revealed to prey on women trying to make ends meet and use debt as a form of coercion and control to reveal intimate photos.

Katie first saw an ad on social media recruiting women to livestream sexual content

Ellie Flynn (pictured) asked Katie if she wanted to give it up and she said: ‘Yes, I would.’

One woman described the backlash she received after requesting a loan online: ‘It’s awful when men ask for nudes or ask you to send me your underwear.

‘I was surprised at how much every person who messaged me wanted the same thing under the same circumstances; They wanted to lend me money but they didn’t want to get paid back, they wanted something in return.’

This was revealed as research by the Center for Social Justice revealed more than two million Brits owe money to illegal lenders; This represents an increase of two-thirds in the last five years.

A separate study cited by the Fair4AllFinance program discovered a new trend in which one in three people find illegal lenders through social media.

Criminologist Nicola Harding said in the documentary: ‘They (illegal lenders) may ask for your data: your name, date of birth, where you live.

‘Data is currency in the criminal world, allowing criminals to open bank accounts and even companies in your name, which they can then use for illegal activities.

‘Harms are complex and layered. ‘There are now normal, hard-working people who owe money to criminals.’

‘Dispatches – Hunting Debt Hunters’ airs tonight at 8pm on Channel 4