A GANG who trafficked a woman from Romania to work the streets of Manchester as a prostitute has been jailed.
The migrant workers lured their victim - a single mum in her twenties - to the UK after their building work dried up because of the credit crunch.
They promised the woman she could earn money as a dancer but forced her to have sex with up to ten men a night in Manchester's red light districts.
She finally escaped their clutches when she appealed to one of her 'punters' and he helped her flee to his house.
A court heard that Greater Manchester Police has dedicated twenty officers to tackling the problem of sex trafficking, which Judge Clement Goldstone QC described as a 'scourge' in this country as he sentenced the gang.
Who else has been locked up in November? Sentences and photo gallery
Manchester Crown Court was told that Romanian migrants Razvan Constandache, 23, Toma Ienei, 23, and Ioan Macicasan, 22, hatched the plot to lure the woman to England when they struggled to find work on building sites.
The young woman was desperate to raise money for her 3-year-old daughter's education and was approached by Constandache in Romania, who told her she would be far better paid in England.
In late February she got on a coach bound for Manchester with Constandache, Ienei and Macicasan.
After spending their first night in Manchester homeless Ienei contacted his niece, 22-year-old Renata Vas, who was living with her husband Adrian Szalasci, 26, and their toddler son in Cheadle.
They were staying at the home of a 37-year-old British man - Ian Strong - and he agreed to also take in the homeless Romanians unaware that the woman with them had been trafficked.
However, when Strong discovered what they were doing he also joined in the gang's activities and drove the victim to at least one appointment and introduced her to clients.
Suggestive
The victim would be used by up to ten men a night in Manchester's red light district while Constandache, Ienei, Macicasan and Szalasci kept watch in a nearby car and then took away the money she earned.
When she wasn't walking the streets the victim was made to cook and clean for 'the boys' with Renata Vas, who took suggestive photographs of her in a scheme to advertise her services.
Meanwhile, the Romanian men would go out to steal items from shops, including an outfit for the victim to wear on the streets. The victim decided to escape the gang's clutches in early March after Macicasan hit her on the nose following a drunken row.
A punter who offered to help her on condition that she married him helped her get away. After she fled to his house the Romanian men bombarded her with texts including threats to kidnap her daughter and tell her mother she was a prostitute.
But,they were snared by Greater Manchester Police's Sex Crime Unit after she lured them to Piccadilly Station on the pretence that she wanted to come back to them. Vas and Strong were then picked up.
Who else has been locked up in November? Sentences and photo gallery
Razvan Constandache, of no fixed address, admitted at an earlier hearing trafficking a woman into the country, trafficking a woman within the country and controlling a prostitute. He will serve five-and-a-half years.
Toma Ienei of Hartington Street, Moss Side, and Ioan Macicasan, of no fixed abode, will both serve four-and-a-half years after admitting the same offences.
Macicasan was given a further six months for assaulting the victim. Adrian Szalasci, of Hartington Street, Moss Side, admitted trafficking a woman within the UK and controlling a prostitute has been sentenced to three-and-half years.
Detective Constable Angela Bailey
"This young woman believed she was coming here to work hard and give her daughter a better future and instead was badly mistreated."
The court heard Szalasci is on the run from a ten-year sentence for 'economic fraud' handed down in Romania. Renata Vas, of Crondall Street, Moss Side admitted controlling a prostitute and has been sentenced to two years.
Ian Strong, of Astbury Walk, Cheadle, admitted trafficking within the UK and was also sentenced to two years.
Detective Constable Angela Bailey, based at Greater Manchester Police's Sexual Crime Unit, said: "This young woman believed she was coming here to work hard and give her daughter a better future and instead was badly mistreated.
Manipulation
"The behaviour of the men who brought her here quickly descended into manipulation and threats of violence. They all deserve the sentences handed down today.
"Thanks to the victim's bravery and the assistance of a member of the public she was able to report her plight to the police. Once this happened we were able to give her the help and support she badly needed, we quickly identified those responsible and caught them.
"It is important that all victims of sexual crimes know that if they speak out they will get the help they need."
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this si the tip of the iceberg. the eastern European migrants take full advantage of the Euro union. Brtain needs to put controls on the numbers or opt out. take a look in Italy. not a single foreigner in the civil service or police force there. 20 years to get a passport. you can't even open a bank account or own a car.
Er, what about deportation for this gang, or are we expected to keep them on UK benefits forever once released? They are foreign criminals. Get rid, now!
Its quite easy to get a negative impression of our Romanian immigrants.
And when they have done their time they should be shipped back to where they came from, and banned from ever coming here again!
Why not let them serve their full sentence then deport them back to their native or parents country, and stop being soft on these vermin
Let them serve a full sentence then deport them to their or their parents country of origin. Stop being soft on them
Parasites in more than one sense. On that poor girl...on us... and there's hundreds of thousands more where they came from. And they're HERE. And nothing is being done about it.
red, its a problem certainly, but one that is likely to continue while there is such a large difference in available incomes across countries, The failure of the recent operation pentameter to uncover the supposed huge number of such cases may mea the problem is less severe than might have been reported.
I find it odd that you use Italy as an example of how to combat organised crime. I would have thought find out what they do ad try something different may have been a better plan, It dosn't even work in regard to eastern european crime goups, as Cataldo Motta, (a crime prosecutor in Italy) said
"Albanian organised crime has become a point of reference for all criminal activity today. Everything passes via the Albanians. The road for drugs and arms and people, meaning illegal immigrants destined for Europe, is in Albanian hands."
The punter who helped Sorry. BLACKMAILED her to escape on the condition she married him is just as much as scum of whom have been convicted of traffiking this poor woman. If men did not use prostitutes in the first place then there would not be a market for these women to be abused in this disgusting way in the first place. Sad pathetic men of whom cannot find a woman by natural dating means because they are either dog ugly or inadequet in other ways or means. Women do not choose to become prostitutes because they enjoy it. They do it to feed illnesses like drug addictions or because they cannot afford to clothe and feed their children. Punters know this and prey on them making them just as bad as scum traffickers.
Come, come you commenter’s on here you know Labour and Brown have done their best to bring law and order back to Britain they have got tough on crime and the causes of it. Just look at their record hundreds of terrorist released under the Good Friday Agreement, Illegal’s bringing a hijacked plane into the country and then being allowed to stay, Mr Newlove kicked to death in the street, Sophie Lancaster another victim kicked to death, Rhys Jones murdered in Liverpool. The jails are that over crowded Labour come up with the answer let the violent convicts out early, now that is being tough on the criminal and to make sure Labour have been even tougher with the criminal they only have to do half their sentence. They have embellished the human rights act giving the scumbags even more of a hard time. This law enables the criminal to scream for his human rights and if the authorities don’t abide by the criminal he can sue them, example a serial burglar is suing the prison authorities for having to slop out.
Nothing surprises me anymore at what is happening in our country under Labour rule we the electorate have been sold and served up like a stuffed pig at the alter of Europe. If these scummies cannot be deported then surely we have the right to ban them as undesirable’s oppps I forgot we can’t do that sort of thing in Labour’s Britain someone in the Labour party might decide to play the race card. At least we can sleep in our beds at night (sorry we can’t do that either) I was going to say safely. Oh dear Mr Brown you and your lot have got every decent person in Britain living in fear, leaving your mate the criminal to do what they want with near impunity. As I said at the beginning they have got tough on crime they have given some of Joe public criminal records for over filling the wheelie bins, dropping litter, breaking the smoke laws, watching Premiership football on a Saturday afternoon in the pub, yep Labour are the party of nastiness.
There was plenty of warning about the crime wave that would come from Romania when they joined the E.U.
Other countries like Italy and France would not even consider giving them benefits and free accommodation unlike us. No wonder every man and his dog is queuing up to come and abuse our welfare system, healthcare etc why we all sit back and watch it happen because this liberal government wont do anything about our border control.
Another reason along with drugs, gangs, violence and disease why prostitution should be legalised. Clean it up and tax it. It's NEVER gonna go away, the oldest profession in the world. Even public hangings in the Arabic world don't stop it, so we need to do the right thing. Help the girls with the drug habits they have, reduce money earned by gangs, take the girls off the streets and away from danger. Why do governments bury there heads in the sand on this topic?
UK hasnt a clue what chaos and mess they are making of this country.We now have to pay for this scum to live in our luxurious prisons.They have all the best amenities.What is wrong with us.?
well said `It may be 33 yrs but it will never be 37yrs` but the problem is still with us, this goverment is hell bent on ignoring the victims and supporting the thugs - roll on next years election I cannot wait !
Oracle 1981
Many of us have been saying this for years, why do immigrants travel all the way acroos Europe to get to this country it's not for the climate. Why do people who's second language is French travel across France to get here. Why do Eastern Europeans do it the answer is easy they get everything for free.
I was born and bred in Manchester and now have to face Prostitutes plying their trade in East Manchester all along Ashton Old Road, Beggars with children around their necks, and incidents to numerous to mention.
The councilors have the cheek to say we live in a better place now, unfortunately I do not know what planet they are on (I think it's Pluto)especially the three who represent East Manchesterand their glorious leader Leese.
readersdigest
"why do immigrants travel all the way acroos Europe to get to this country it's not for the climate"
The UK has a very temperate climate, ideally suited for many activities.
"Why do people who's second language is French travel across France to get here"
Now do you mean assylum seekers, of which there seems to be no reference here, or people coming to the UK to work? If the latter then what relevence is France, they would travel to were work is most available, and for lower paid, non permanent jobs of the kind these men seem to have arrived to do the UK has a much more flexible labour market than France, making it easier to work here.
"Why do Eastern Europeans do it the answer is easy they get everything for free"
Reading the story indicates that they took nothing for free, they came to work as builders, but found work hard to come by, as I am sure many builders do at the moment; rather than take anything for free, they then turned to other ways to make money; although it would have been better if they had done something else.
Although still in my youth, and with no experience in this area I confidenty predict that there were in fact prostitutes in east manchester before there were romainians there. Certainly wikipedia reports that in shakespearean times the Bishop of Winchester actually owned brothels in Southwark, and St Augustine of Hippo is quoted as saying "If you expel prostitution from society, you will unsettle everything on account of lusts".
Whether these were meant to be local prostitutes, or if those from overseas would be acceptable is uncertain.
it's not hard.
Reduce the benefits of the benefit system to discourage the feckless from coming here.
Deport offenders from overseas at the completion of their sentence.
If that means having to leave the EU in order to have control of our borders then so be it
What it going to be like in ten year's time .no way to stop them coming here
there a bunch of wrong-uns - notice that story about the missing girl in asda eastlands last week hasnt yet made the news?
there a bunch of wrong-uns - notice that story about the missing girl in asda eastlands last week hasnt yet made the news?
George Kingston and Jetstar, well said. I cant wait for the elections either and i think we will all be voting the same party.