A maths prodigy who went to Oxford at the age of 13 was exposed as a
£130-an-hour escort girl in a surge of media attention during the
Easter vacation.
The first time Sufiah Yusof featured in national papers was when she was
awarded a place at St Hilda’s College in 1997 having just entered her
teens. She appeared in the papers three years later after running away
from Oxford and sparking a nationwide police search to find her.
Under the alias Shilpa Lee, she is earning a living as an escort girl
in what some commentators have called a defiant act of rebellion
against her father, Faroq Yusof.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Sufiah spoke out about her new
lifestyle. “People think escorting is sleazy and terrible but I don’t
see it like that. I have a nice life and I am in control.”
As part of the £130 deal, Sufiah says she whispers algebraic fractions
into the ears of her clients. She says, “I have a far more glamorous
life than I ever dreamed of when I went to Oxford.”
While missing in 2000, Yusof emailed her sister Asisha saying, “I’ve
finally had enough of 15 years of physical and emotional abuse. You
know what I’m talking about.” Yusof has more recently claimed that her
father pressured her.
Farooq Yusof made claims that his daughter had been kidnapped by an
organisation seeking the key to her intelligence during her
disappearance. Her family was praised as the most brilliant in the
country after she entered Oxford and places at the university were also
given to her brother and sister, aged just 12 and 15.
However last week Yusof’s father pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting
two 15-year-old girls and has since been sentenced to 18 months in
prison. Her mother, Halimahton Yusof, who hasn’t heard from her for
three years, is pleading for her to return to the family home.
Yusof grew up as a strict Muslim and followed her father’s ‘Accelerated
Learning Technique’, which he developed after privately tutoring
students in maths. Part of the routine includes stretching and
breathing exercises in freezing temperatures in order to keep her brain
ticking.
Now aged 23, Yusof said in her interview, “I grew up too quickly. From
11, I was studying maths all the time. I didn’t have any friends.”
However she continued, “I don’t have any regrets.”
