'Prostitute' Oxford Prodigy Family Speaks

Sufiah Yusof at the age of 15...
The brother of the child prodigy who was one of the youngest students to be admitted to Oxford University but has now been reported to be working as a prostitute in Manchester has spoken of the family's reaction to the news.

Sufiah Yusof was just 13 years old when she was admitted to the prestigious university to study mathematics.

Her brother Iskander Yusof, who himself graduated from Warwick University at the age of 15, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that their father Farooq Yusof's temper and refusal to apologise for the pressures he placed on the young Sufiah led to tensions between father and daughter.

He also said that, while their mother was "not best pleased" to hear where her daughter's career had taken her, it had been so long since they had had any contact that she was relieved to hear anything at all.

He went on to say that despite everything that has gone on the family hopes that she gets in touch. "If she wants to resolve this issue she needs to think about it herself. Sometimes when dealing with problems you don't need to speak to anyone else, you just need to look inwards and say 'what sort of person do I want to become?'", he said.

Ten years on from being admitted to the university, Miss Yusof now earns £130 an hour working as a prostitute from her flat in Salford, Manchester, according to the News of the World.

The newspaper claims it sent an undercover reporter to the 23-year-old's home, where Miss Yusof, who allegedly works under the name Shilpa Lee, described the services she reportedly offered.

On her website, she is alleged to have described herself as a "very pretty size 8, 32D bust and 5'5'' tall - available for bookings every day from 11am to 8pm." The website has since been shut down.

The gifted student sparked a massive police hunt in 2001 when, at the age of 15, she ran away from Oxford after passing her end-of-term examinations at St Hilda's College. At the time she sent her family an e-mail, accusing her father of making her life "a living hell" and of putting her through "15 years of physical and emotional abuse".

Mr Yusof denied that he had pushed Sufiah too hard and implied that she was being told what to say by those controlling her.

Police later found her living in Bournemouth, posing as a student among the 30,000 foreigners who go to the seaside resort each year to study English. (Telegraph.co.uk)

****** A real sad way to live after such a promising start. There are a lot of valuable lessons in this saga for overambitious Malaysian parents.