Sufiah Yusof

Sufiah Yusof, born 1985, is a British math prodigy who was discovered in March, 2008 to be working as a prostitute in Manchester, England.

Backstory

Yusof was thirteen years old in 1997 when she began classes at the University of Oxford to study mathematics, making her one of the youngest students admitted to the university. Her Pakistani-born father, Farooq Yusof, rose to some prominence at the time, claiming that his "hothouse method" of intensive tutoring techniques were responsible for her mathematical talent. Media reports painted the family's life as idyllic.

Disappearance

A different story was reported in 2001, when Yusof disappeared from Oxford at age 15. During the elaborate missing-persons search that followed, Yusof's family claimed that she had shown signs of becoming an extremely devout Muslim.

Alleged history of abuse

When Yusof was found, however, she refused to go home to what she claimed was a violent family life, describing life with her father as a "living hell," and claiming that his abuse was so bad that she had attempted suicide at age 11. In press interviews, Farooq's other children also claimed that his tutoring techniques were physically and emotionally abusive, alleging that Farooq woke them in the middle of the night by punching them in the face. It came to light as the scandal unfolded that Farooq had previously served time in jail for mortgage fraud.

Yusof returned to Oxford in 2003, intending to finish the remaining two years of her program, but left again within a year.

Marriage

Sufiah Yusof married fellow student and Muslim convert Jonathan Marshall in 2004, when he was 24 and she was 19. The marriage floundered within 13 months, according to Marshall because he was becoming more devout, while Yusof began turning away from Islam.

Prodigy to prostitute

According to a March 2008 News of the World article, Yusof found employment as a prostitute in Manchester under the name, "Shilpa Lee," charging $327 an hour. She described herself as "very pretty size 8, 32D bust and 5ft 5in tall - available for booking every day from 11am to 8pm," with a preference for "older gentlemen." In an interview, Yusof said that she got the idea to work as a prostitute from reading Belle Du Jour's Diary of a London Call Girl, that she enjoys the work, and that she takes problem sets with her when she meets her clients.

Father convicted

In December, 2007, Farooq Yusof pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two fifteen year old girls whom he had tutored, and is now spending 18 months in prison. Sufiah Yusof's mother, Halimahton Yusof, has initiated divorce proceedings.

Fast Facts

1. Age: 23
2. 1 of 5 children
3. Accepted to Oxford at age 12
4. Matriculated at St. Hilda's College
5. Had a site titled, “Exotic Manchester Asian Escort”
6. Story inspired Nikita Lalwani's novel Gifted

Quotes:

• '"My clients love the fact that I can stimulate their minds AND their bodies."— Sufiah Yusof
• "With her amazing brain she should be able to make money any way she wants. But instead her life has spiraled completely out of control." — Friend of Sufiah Yusof
• It’s a particular shock – her coming from a Muslim background. To see pictures of somebody doing that – somebody I knew very closely – it makes me think, how did she get to that stage. Quite frankly she knows well enough what she should and should not do. — Jonathan Marshall, Yusof's former husband

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