PROSTITUTES are using a seedy website to sell sex in the Borders, we can reveal.

More than half a dozen men and women of all ages from across the region are advertising their services, most of which are too rude to describe in a family newspaper, online.

They are posting sleazy photographs of themselves on the unregulated site, which we have decided not to name, and then arranging to meet punters in their homes or in local hotels by text or email.

The revelation is sure to shock unsuspecting readers, most of whom will be completely oblivious to the smear on the region's reputation.

One woman, a 21-year-old from Galashiels, who goes by the name of Jane, this week posted a topless snap of herself online and invited up to five men to join her in a depraved sexual encounter in a car park in St Boswells. And she advertised the meeting at £40 a head.

She says: "I'm not a professional and this is the first time I've ever done anything like this." But she added: "I am excited at the thought of getting paid for something I love doing anyway." Another woman, called Roxanne, from Kelso, has uploaded a range of raunchy photographs showing her posing in various states of undress. She claims to have bought a new house with all the cash she has made from the site.

The 22-year-old, who lists a string of sickening services on her webpage, boasts: "The last year has been so good to me I am now able to realise a dream I have had for a while now, buying my first home in rural Scotland, a beautiful place - I just can't wait to get settled in." The site, which is believed to be the largest online prostitution website in the world, also features profiles of men and women in Walkerburn, Jedburgh, Hawick, Coldstream and Duns. And a petition has been launched to get the site closed down.

The woman, who set up the petition, said: The site is unregulated and is unconcerned as to whether the girls who are advertising their services are underage or trafficked.

"Whether the women want to admit it or not, it is degrading to them and promotes the culture that men have an entitlement to sex merely because they can pay for it no matter what the cost to the women involved."