Dozens of women have been sexually assaulted by massage therapists, often in their own homes, a BBC investigation has found.
UK therapists do not need a specific licence or any formal qualifications to start practising massage, although employers can request certain accreditations.
Now, industry bodies, sexual assault victims and the chair of the Women and Equalities Committee are calling for the government to introduce regulation in the sector to address the risk to the public.
Taylor, not her real name, tells BBC News she had always chosen to be massaged by women when booking at-home massages. But when she decided to book a deep tissue massage, in October 2019, there were no female masseurs available. She found a male therapist whose profile had hundreds of positive reviews - many of them five stars - and booked.

Taylor was using a wellness app called Urban - a platform where self-employed massage therapists can be booked and at your door in as little as an hour.

She had used the app before but soon into the massage, felt something wasn’t right. “When you have a really professional masseuse, you never feel like any part of your body is particularly exposed,” she said. “This guy literally pulled the towel off the entire lower part of my body.”

Taylor says the masseuse then began to touch her in intimate areas, without her consent, before going on to commit a serious sexual assault. Taylor says she “froze”, afraid of what else he might do to her if she reacted. When she was eventually able to tell him to stop, she says he ignored her.  She adds: “The second he was out of the flat, I literally just collapsed in tears in my hallway, on my own, closed the door and locked it from the inside.”

Taylor reported the incident to both the police and the app at the time. Urban says they removed the therapist from the platform immediately, but Taylor says that two weeks later, she found his profile was still accessible. “It was a pretty scarring thing to have to go back onto my phone in the safety of my house and see that little icon of a man that did that to me still on there,” she adds.

Despite telling Taylor that the technical glitch would be resolved “promptly”, BBC News found that his profile was visible on the platform, three years on from the incident.

Urban says that though his profile may have been visible, he was no longer bookable from the date of her complaint. They say the therapist is fully qualified, and had been the subject of a clear DBS check. The police eventually told Taylor that their investigation was discontinued due to insufficient evidence.

BBC News also hears about a former masseur named Cosmin Tudorache who was jailed for five years for raping a woman who had booked his services through Urban. A London court heard how the victim wept during a 90-minute attack in her own home. Like with many sexual assaults - including some of the other women we have spoken to for this story - Tudorache’s victim said she completely froze during assault. She testified that she continued to experience panic attacks when she saw the massage app advertised in public places like the underground.

When contacted by the BBC, Urban said that therapists are now required to undergo rigorous vetting - including a DBS check - and insist only a tiny fraction of their over one million bookings have resulted in any complaint, which are taken seriously and investigated. They say they would welcome regulation of the industry.

Some experts believe the whole UK massage industry needs more regulation and safeguarding.  Beyond Urban, the BBC has found more than a dozen recent criminal cases involving offenders using the massage industry to rape and sexually assault clients in recent years.

Yvonne Blake, chair of the General Council for Massage Therapies, has been called as an expert witness in sexual assault cases involving massage therapists. She told the BBC that under current rules, “absolutely anybody” can start advertising and practising massage without checks and “there's no regulation to stop anybody doing any of those things”.

The BBC also speaks to victims of massage therapist Callum Urquhart who was jailed for sexually assaulting female clients in Bristol. Urquhart advertised at-home massage services on social media.

Yas, not her real name, endured an hours-long assault in her home. She reported what happened to the police but later learned Urquhart was able to continue massaging and assaulting clients while under investigation. Both victims who spoke to the BBC expressed concern that there is not enough in place to police his activities and prevent him returning to the industry after his release from jail.

Responding to the investigation, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, chair of the Women’s and Equalities Committee, told the BBC that the government needs to take action. She said it was “crucially important” that massage customers - often in vulnerable positions - know the person who is treating them is “properly qualified, trained and accredited […] I think it's really important that there is more understanding across government that the findings of your investigation of the scale of the problem, how serious it is, and this should be a priority and action should be urgent,” she said.

For Taylor, and the other victims  BBC News spoke to, the lasting impact from the sexual assault has been devastating.

“It’s something I’ll never get over,” she says. “It’s changed me forever and given me this huge baggage and weight on my shoulders, I don’t see myself ever getting rid of.”

Listen to File On 4: Assaulted By My Massage Therapist on Tuesday 12 July at 8pm on BBC Radio 4.