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19/08/2009
People Trafficking Conviction 'Wiped'
Northern Ireland's first convicted people-trafficker is to have his crime quashed, following an error by the Public Prosecution Service.
However, 38-year-old Mark Alexander Russell's conviction of controlling prostitution will not be wiped from his criminal record.
The Dromore man was arrested last year during a UK-wide police sting targeting the vice trade.
Russell, along with a 55-year-old Malaysian woman, was arrested during a swoop on a Belfast brothel.
Both admitted running prostitution for gain and were also charged with trafficking offences.
The women was later cleared of the trafficking charge.
It was claimed Russell brought the alleged trafficking victims by ferry from Scotland.
A magistrate handed Russell down a suspended sentence of two years, and he walked free from court.
Concerns were raised that the Magistrates Court was limited by the sentence it could impose, whereas in a High Court the maximum penalty passed-down could have been 14 years in prison.
This prompted the Public Prosecution Service to reexamine the case, only to find that there were evidential difficulties for the original trafficking charges to stand.
The prostitutes in the case claimed they had been willing participants, and had not been duped or brought to Northern Ireland against their will.
(PR/KMcA)
However, 38-year-old Mark Alexander Russell's conviction of controlling prostitution will not be wiped from his criminal record.
The Dromore man was arrested last year during a UK-wide police sting targeting the vice trade.
Russell, along with a 55-year-old Malaysian woman, was arrested during a swoop on a Belfast brothel.
Both admitted running prostitution for gain and were also charged with trafficking offences.
The women was later cleared of the trafficking charge.
It was claimed Russell brought the alleged trafficking victims by ferry from Scotland.
A magistrate handed Russell down a suspended sentence of two years, and he walked free from court.
Concerns were raised that the Magistrates Court was limited by the sentence it could impose, whereas in a High Court the maximum penalty passed-down could have been 14 years in prison.
This prompted the Public Prosecution Service to reexamine the case, only to find that there were evidential difficulties for the original trafficking charges to stand.
The prostitutes in the case claimed they had been willing participants, and had not been duped or brought to Northern Ireland against their will.
(PR/KMcA)
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