Romanian father and son jailed for sex trafficking

A ROMANIAN father and son who ran a family business of “sexual slavery” by trafficking women into the UK then forcing them into prostitution have been jailed.

Bogdan Nejloveanu, 51, and Marius Nejloveanu, 23, tricked five vulnerable young women, none of them previously sex workers, to come to England from their home country with the promise of a new home and jobs.

Marius, 23, used “charm, good looks and claims of affection” to entice the women, aged between 16 and 25, but once in the UK they were “threatened, beaten and degraded”, Manchester Crown Court heard.

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The son repeatedly raped two of them, one on an almost daily basis, while his father gave him practical help and advice to set up his own prostitute business, warning the victims: “Make no trouble or there will be trouble.”

There were also episodes where Marius forced the women into “grossly humiliating” sexual acts for his own amusement.

Marius was jailed for 21 years after being convicted earlier this month, following an eight-week trial, of 27 counts including four rapes, trafficking, assault and controlling prostitution.

His father was jailed for six years for seven charges including sex trafficking and controlling prostitution between November 2007 and October 2008.

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The court heard each woman was paid £40 for each time they were forced into sex with men, half going to the brothel and the rest to Marius. This happened between 10 and 20 times a day, seven days a week, in “massage parlours” in Manchester and one in the Bordesley Green area of Birmingham. The business earned the Nejloveanu family thousands of pounds per week.

Passing sentence Judge Robert Atherton said: “These are people, as victims, who often have little in their lives. They hope and trust for better and are brought to this country and treated the way in which you treated them, really not as people, in some ways not even as slaves, but simply as goods to be sold.

“The effects upon all of them, I have no doubt, they will be significant and long lasting and have caused and continue to cause great anxiety.”

The victims told the court they suffered psychological and physical damage, contracting sexually transmitted diseases, having tests for Aids, one having an abortion and all suffering the “shame” of what they were forced to do.

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Two of the women had learning difficulties, and were described as “childlike” despite their ages, one not even knowing what country she was in by the time police were tipped off.

Officers yesterday also blamed the girls’ ‘clients’ for fuelling the “appalling” human trade.

Det Chief Supt Mary Doyle, from Greater Manchester Police commented: “This case goes beyond the topic of legalising prostitution but does bring into question the responsibilities of those who use brothels and the services of sex workers.”