THE former detective who led the response to the murders of five women by a serial killer will today call on Scotland to make paying for sex a criminal offence.

Tania Nicol, 19, 25-year-old Gemma Adams, 24-year-old Anneli Alderton, Annette Nicholls, 29, and Paula Clennell, 24, were murdered by the same man over six weeks in 2006.

All were linked to the sex trade and Steve Wright, nicknamed "Mondeo man" by sex workers in the Ipswich area, was given a whole life tariff.

Alan Caton, the former Suffolk Constabulary detective superintendent who led the force's response, will today speak at an online event urging the Scottish Government to outlaw the purchase of sex. He claims this would help protect women from violence and exploitation.

The event is organised by the group A Model for Scotland, which also seeks the law change.

In this year's Programme for Government, SNP ministers committed to "develop a model for Scotland which effectively tackles and challenges men's demand for prostitution".

READ MORE: Push to change prostitution laws as current legislation ‘stuck in Dark Ages’

However, charities representing sex workers say they would oppose any move to criminalise the buying of sex. Once such organisation, Umbrella Lane, says the move would harm consensual sex workers and do nothing for those being exploited.

Caton said: "There is currently a minority of men in Scotland who feel entitled to sexually exploit vulnerable women by paying them for sex.

"My experiences in Ipswich taught me that society must never turn a blind eye to the abuses these men are committing.

"Men who pay for sex cause immense harms to the women they exploit, while their demand also drives a brutal sex trafficking trade."

He went on: "Prostitution is violence against women. Yet the law in Scotland currently gives men license to pay for sex. That cannot be right. It is crucial that the law sends out the unequivocal message that paying for sex is never acceptable, and that law enforcement agencies have the powers to hold perpetrators to account.

"At the same time, women exploited through prostitution must be decriminalised and given the support they need to leave sexual exploitation."

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The Scottish Government's definition of violence against women includes prostitution. A spokesperson said: "This year's Programme for Government commits the Scottish Government to developing a model for Scotland which effectively tackles this behaviour and we are now taking this work forward.

"We will base our model on fundamental principles which embed equality, human rights and women's safety at its centre.

"As part of that work, we will learn from other jurisdictions and international approaches and engage with those with lived experience to help shape and strengthen services."

However, Dr Anastacia Ryan, founding director of Umbrella Lane, said: "It is unfathomable that a group of men are calling for laws that have been shown to increase violence against women who engage in sex work.

"Particularly shocking is the weighing in of a male former detective superintendent amidst growing awareness and outrage at the levels of institutional misogyny in police forces.

"Police and former police officers should be there to carry out the law, not campaign for increased criminalisation of an industry steeped in outdated, harmful laws.

"These laws already put women at risk forcing sex workers to work alone indoors or risking arrest through working alone, in hidden and isolated areas on the street to avoid police repression and possible prosecution."