David Potter and Rob Dudley prosecute first successful convictions in Merseyside under Modern Slavery Act 2015
November 28, 2016
David Potter and Rob Dudley from Exchange Chambers has prosecuted the first case to secure convictions in Merseyside under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
At Liverpool Crown Court on 28th November 2015, three Romanian nationals, Anda Berki, Lorendana Timos and Alexandru Dorobantu were jailed for tricking two women and one child aged 17 to travel from Romania to Liverpool.
All three victims had been promised work, either in the restaurant trade or as a fruit picker. But to their horror, all three were told by the female defendants on arrival at Liverpool John Lennon Airport that they were to be put to work as prostitutes in the city. The two adult complainants immediately protested but all three were nevertheless taken by taxi to a brothel in the Anfield area of the city where profiles were created for them on an adult website.
The two adult complainants, disgusted by the prospect of being put to work as prostitutes, plotted to escape and, in the early hours of the following morning, left their accommodation and wandered the streets trying to get back to the airport. They finally encountered a member of the public who assisted them in contacting Merseyside Police.
When the police attended the address in Anfield they found the third complainant and established that she was only 17. When she was spoken to she recounted the horrific experience of having been introduced that day to a series of men by Berki with whom she was expected to have sex. She refused.
All three women gave victim personal statements to the Court in which they described the shock and devastation of being expected to work as prostitutes.
The case was prosecuted by the Complex Crime Unit of the Merseyside and Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service.
