Slovakian trio face 
 jail after admitting conspiracy to rape

The trio were part of a gang which plotted to rape prostitutes in Bradford in 2008 but have only been brought to justice after a lengthy police inquiry.

One of their victims was Suzanne Blamires, 36, who was murdered by Stephen Griffiths, a student who called himself the ‘Crossbow Cannibal’.

Griffiths, from Bradford, was jailed for life in 2010 for murdering Ms Blamires and two other Bradford women who worked as prostitutes.

The Slovakian gang’s leader Lubomir Kora, a miner and 33-year-old father-of-six, was jailed indefinitely in October 2008 for his part in the conspiracy to rape five sex workers, but international arrest warrants had to be issued for three accomplices who fled the country.

Last August West Yorkshire Police detectives travelled to Slovakia to serve arrest warrants and yesterday the three defendants admitted being part of the conspiracy to commit rape between February 6, 2008 and March 13, 2008.

Jan Dzudza, 40, Matus Tipan, 28, and Miroslav Karicka, 45, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge on the basis that they had been involved in the rapes of Ms Blamires and another woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

It is understood that Ms Blamires was repeatedly raped by five men and physically assaulted after getting into a Toyota Previa people carrier.

During the other rape victim’s ordeal Kora filmed the attack on his mobile phone.

Dzuda, Tipan and Karicka were yesterday remanded back into custody by Judge Peter Benson and they will be sentenced on February 14.

Following his trial in 2008, Kora, the gang leader, was branded a public danger.

He was described by Judge Roger Scott as “chillingly indifferent” to his victims who had been lured inside his people carrier vehicle.

Judge Scott told Kora: “The offences were getting worse and there was every risk that death would result.”

One of his victims said: “They were a pack of animals and treated me like one.”

At the time, police said: “This man gave no thought to their rights and treated the whole ordeal as a form of fun for him and his associates.”