Five Albanian pimps have been convicted of sex trafficking offences after a trial at Southwark Crown Court. On 31 October , a year-old Lithuanian girl made what was probably the biggest mistake of her young life when she agreed to go on a trip to the UK with a group of new friends. Instead of the few days of fun she had been promised, she ended up being sold into prostitution in an ordeal that was to last for months.
A missing persons hunt sparked by her disappearance eventually led police to a series of west London brothels and a gang of Albanian people traffickers.
Jurors at Southwark Crown Court heard how the girl was "tricked" into leaving her home in a village near the town of Siauliai after being befriended by a young man. He introduced her to a group of his "friends" in a nightclub, who invited her to join them on an exciting "sports" trip to London, all expenses paid. After forging a permission letter from her parents, the men took her to Sheffield and handed her over to a gang who took her ID card - which clearly showed she was only Sold on This group sold her on again to a group of Albanian pimps - the four Demarku brothers - Flamur, 33, Agron, 21, Bedari, 21, and Xhevair - and Izzet Fejzullahu, They told her she would have to work as a prostitute to cover the money they had paid for her and took her to a house in Pears Road, Hounslow - one of a string of brothels in the west London suburb.
I asked what I was really there for. They laughed and said: I burst into tears. The brothels operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week - with the "girls" allowed one day off a week. The gang were making huge profits and several of them drove around in new Mercedes cars. But the family remained worried and began searching for her, with the help of a Lithuanian missing persons TV show. The Met was already aware of the Pears Road brothel and visited it on 16 December She was not there but a notice advertising "new beautiful ladies at very good prices" gave a phone number, which led to another brothel in nearby Kingsley Road.
Police raided it the same day and rescued "Veronica", who was interviewed and then flown back to Lithuania to be reunited with her family.
