A POET from Dorset has written the words to the world’s first opera about sex trafficking.

Ben Kaye from near Sturminster Newton will see Anya17 performed for the first time on March 7.

The Royal Philarmonic Ensemble will stage it at Liverpool’s Epstein Thea-tre.

The work has been supported by the United Nations and non-governmental bodies working on the sex trade.

Ben was born in Swanage but now lives in Hazelbury Bryan.

He also wrote the words for Eternal Voices, a classical work about soldiers killed in Afghanistan, which was partly inspired by the diary of Ferndown Royal Marine John Thornton.

Anya17 seeks to raise awareness of the £20billion-a-year sex trafficking industry, which is second only to the drugs trade as a world criminal enterprise.

Ben said: “To me the role of a creative is to ask all of us to constantly re-examine our view of the world.

“Sometimes it invol-ves bringing to light some uncomfortable truths.”