Sex workers in London are being raped or violently assaulted on a weekly basis, new figures reveal. 

In the last two years, 922 crimes have been reported against sex workers in the UK and more than one fifth of those have been committed in London, according to statistics released by the Ugly Mugs scheme. 

The scheme launched in July 2012 and initially funded by the Home Office is part of the UK Network of Sex Work Projects (UKNSWP). 

It collects and circulates information on violent and potentially dangerous clients to sex workers on an online database.

The figures obtained by Conservative London Assembly member, Andrew Boff, show up to two sex workers a week are falling victim to crime.

One in four attacks on workers in the UK is reported as rape, and 39 per cent are sexual assaults, compared to 44 per cent of violence against a person.    

Mr Boff is the author of the 'Silence on Violence' report published yesterday. 

He said: "This city is becoming safer for Londoners yet my research suggests that sex workers see it as increasingly dangerous.

"Bad experiences with the police mean most sex workers do not report crimes and this has encouraged criminals to intentionally target them.

"Amazingly in just two years, the Ugly Mugs scheme has tackled this problem head on - it has saved lives and several dangerous criminals have already been convicted and imprisoned."

Police in Waltham Forest launched Operation Dash in Lea Bridge Road last year to tackle the issue of street prostitution, and similarly officers in Redbridge continue stopping vehicles as part of Operation Clearlight in the Ilford Lane area. 

In October 2013, 24 year-old Romanian sex worker Mariana Popa was brutally stabbed to death in Ilford Lane by Farooq Shah, 21, of Forest Gate. 

Just hours before the fatal attack, the pregnant mother-of-one had been issued with a caution by officers for soliciting. 

The Ugly Mugs scheme has now been awarded a further £85,000 funding, £20,000 of which has come from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the Metropolitan Police. 

National manager of the scheme, Alex Bryce said: "Sex workers have the right to police protection and this sends the message that, as far as the Met police are concerned, there is no grade of victim and crimes against sex workers will be taken seriously."

The North West region was the second highest with 176 reports, followed by the West Midlands at 164.