"It's my choice" Marine biologist working as a prostitute to pay off student debt says

Meet Louise, the sex worker who has a marine biology degree but has sex with men for money from a two-bed flat in Westminster, central London.

The British marine biologist has told of how she works as a £900-a-week prostitute to pay off her £20,000 student debt. She has defended her right to sell her body and said she would rather do that than work in a petrol station for minimum wage.

She told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show:

I don't want people to think I'm on drugs or that I've been forced or coerced or trafficked. I'm just here as a normal person who wants to make money, secure a future for myself and do this kind of work because I choose to.

Louise's clients pay £70 for every half hour, with £25 of that going to the brothel owned by a former policeman. The former policeman, a father-of-one, revealed his former colleagues did not appear to want to shut him down.

The man, known only as Karl, a 45-year-old, runs three brothels in London, with a staff of up to 20 women, including Louise. He has been involved in the sex industry for 15 years and earned around £60,000 a year.

He told BBC: "We don't allow drugs, no underage girls. We check everyone's passports. If we've got any doubts that they're not there under their own free will, we will call the police."

He added if he was shut down, there would be 15 to 20 women without a job.

Louise said she enjoys the work and wouldn't be doing it if she didn't want to.

Louise told the BBC:

If I'm on my own [and not in a brothel] - which is what the law allows me to do - I'm at the mercy of whichever client decides to come in. A client can come in, rape me, beat me, mug me. [But] if I work in a brothel where there's other women present, where there's a receptionist, it's a million times safer.

BBC host Victoria spoke to 11 women and members of staff of the brothel, who all told her that they were working there by choice.