AN Ipswich man has admitted to being a kerb crawler after being found with a prostitute in his car and his trousers around his knees.Kirk Earrey admitted a charge of soliciting a woman when he appeared at South East Suffolk Magistrates Court on Friday.

AN Ipswich man has admitted to being a kerb crawler after being found with a prostitute in his car and his trousers around his knees.

Kirk Earrey admitted a charge of soliciting a woman when he appeared at South East Suffolk Magistrates Court on Friday.

Earrey, 24, of Robin Drive, Ipswich was arrested at 10.55pm on May 4 when police discovered he was in his car with a woman at the junction of Burlington Road and Handford Road in Ipswich.

Earrey's arrest comes during a new zero tolerance campaign by Suffolk Police in a bid to wipe out prostitution.

And The Evening Star has pledged to name and shame all those people who appear in court as a result of soliciting women for prostitution.

The police crackdown launched in March is a key part of the five-year Ipswich Street Prostitution Strategy, which aims to provide increased support to sex workers and drug addicts to prevent them from working as prostitutes to feed their habits, following the killings of sex workers Annette Nicholls, 29, Paula Clennell, 24, Gemma Adams, 25, Tania Nicol, 19, and Anneli Alderton, 24.

The bodies of the women were all found around Ipswich in December last year.

Earrey is the second person to appear in court since the crackdown again. Earlier this week Martin Daniels, 56 of Anita Close East, Ipswich was fined £350 after pleading guilty to a charge of kerb crawling in Handford Road in the town. He was the first to be taken to court as part of the crackdown, which, since March has seen more than 20 people cautioned.

The court was told that Earrey had his trousers pulled down around his knees, he was wearing a condom and the woman was seen leaning towards his crotch.

Naomi Turner, prosecuting, told the court that Earrey had claimed he had spent the evening driving his father to various pubs in the town.

Ms Turner said: “He said she had got into the car and had refused to get out again.”

At the hearing, Earrey told the court he was hoping to move back into his wife's home soon and that he currently claimed £175 a fortnight in incapacity benefit.

At the time of being arrested for the soliciting, Earrey was also charged with driving a car not in accordance with his licence. The court heard he only had a provisional licence and was driving unaccompanied.

For the soliciting charge, Earrey was fined £60, ordered to pay a surcharge of £15 and £60 court costs.

For the driving offence, he was given four penalty points on his licence and fined £40.

n. Do you think the new crackdown will be an effective deterrent? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk