Jailed: Brothers kept trafficking victim as Plumstead slave

The two sick brothers have been sentenced to a combined 31 years and three months in jail over sex trafficking, slavery, and Class A drugs supply charges.

Woolwich Crown Court heard how a 20-year-old woman from Romania was duped by Ilcic Dumitru, 19, and Ioan Dumitru, 24, into coming to the UK to work in a factory.

But when she arrived at Luton Airport she was taken to a house in Plumstead where there two other Romanian females already there, and her travel documents were taken from her.

On the evening of her arrival, the victim was told to get ready for work and to dress in 'sexy' clothes, and was driven to North London.

She was handed a small bag of wipes and condoms and told she was working the streets.

When the victim protested, she was told she would learn and Ioan Dumitru threatened to "break her head" if she did not make money for them.

She was forced into having her first customer that night, and during one of her first outings one of the clients condoms split and she became pregnant.

The victim was forced to work as a slave through the fear of violent and control of the brothers, sleeping with up to 15 clients a day, even after she became pregnant.

She would make up to £1,000 a day, which was taken straighter from her, and was regularly beaten and abused by her captors.

She was also never allowed to leave the house on her own.

When she was around seven months pregnant, she could no longer feel the baby moving and feared it was dead, resulting in a forced abortion attempt.

Around this time, a client asked her if she was in touch with her family in Romania, and she told him a few of the awful things that had happened to her.

A week later the unknown man came to see her again and gave her a small mobile phone which she hid.

Using it, she managed to get in contact with her family in Romania with her captors knowing, and thanks to what she told them the Romanian authorities contacted Met officers from the Modern Slavery and Child Sexual Exploitation Unit in December 2019.

Two Romanian officers seconded to the UK were "instrumental" in the investigation, and they and a team of officers were deployed to the address in Plumstead where both mean were arrested.

Detective Inspector Grant Anderson, from the MSCE unit, said: “This was an awful crime which subjected a vulnerable young woman to a hideous way of life.

"We know she will never forget her time in captivity but I can report she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

“I hope she now has some closure after knowing these men will be behind bars for a long time.

“We are committed to bringing these offenders to justice and will continue to work with local and oversea partners to do this.”

Both men were charged on Thursday, 19 December 2019 as above. Ilcic Dumitru pleaded guilty to conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the trafficking into the UK a person for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to hold a person in servitude on Friday, 6 March.

He pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs on Friday, 20 March. Ioan Dumitru pleaded guilty on Friday, 20 March to all offences.

To report a suspicion or seek advice you can contact the Modern Slavery Helpline confidentially on 08000 121 700. This is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

You can also report it to police online or call us on 101 at any time to report an incident. If you're deaf or hard of hearing, use our text phone service on 18001 101. Should you wish to remain anonymous you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.