FORMER Primark child workers were last night back at work in the backstreet brothels of Calcutta after being rescued from a life of t-shirt embroidery by Western campaigners.
Julian Cook, a child labour activist, said the children wept with joy after being liberated from appalling conditions which saw them working at home all day with their mothers, sisters and brothers.
He said: "One little girl was so happy to see us taking her mother away she pummelled her little fists into my thighs and wept all over my trousers.
"Her brother was so overjoyed he chased after the police wagon shouting as it drove his mother off. I wonder where they both are now?"
He added: "I just feel so proud that they will never have to see a sequin again."
Child worker Amishi Amrapali said: "OK, it was not great job – it Primark not Vivienne Westwood – but we work together as family and have money to buy medicine for baby.
"Now I go work in brothel. It not all bad. I get own room when I am working, and I still get to do some sewing. It take my mind off."
She added: "Mr Julian come and see me most nights. He tell me when I old enough he take me home with him to Watford."