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02/09/2009
Jail Term For 'Trafficking' Prostitutes
A restaurant owner has been jailed for more than five years for trafficking women into the UK and then forcing them into prostitution.
Plamen Hristov, 34, from Cumberland Road, Reading appeared at Wood Green Crown Court on Thursday, 27 August, and was sentenced to 66 months imprisonment for threatening to harm their families if they failed to play along.
Hristov was found guilty of three counts of controlling prostitution for gain and three counts of arranging or facilitating arrival into the UK of a person for sexual exploitation.
An investigation began on in March this year when a 23 year-old Bulgarian woman reported to police that almost two years ago she had been befriended by Hristov while in Bulgaria.
Hristov promised her a job in his shop if she moved to the UK.
He paid for her flight into the UK and took her to an address in Guildford where he told her she was now a prostitute and must give him all the money.
She tried to refuse but Hristov threatened to harm her family in Bulgaria if she didn't co-operate.
Believing and fearing that he had the knowledge and means to carry out his threats, the woman co-operated.
Hristov made all the arrangements between the woman and the clients and kept all the money and made further threats towards her, forcing her to call others to join her in the UK.
First she was forced to persuade a 21 year-old friend to come over to the UK and then she was threatened to persuade her own 21 year-old sister to the UK to work in Hristov's 'shop'.
The women's travelling expenses were funded by Hristov, and they each only learned the true nature of the work they were to carry out once they had arrived in the UK.
All three continued to work as prostitutes in the areas of Balham, Reading and Tottenham, having been warned that their families would be hurt if they said anything or refused.
At the time of reporting to police the women were living in Wood Green and detectives from Haringey's Sapphire Unit took ownership of the investigation and pursued it to it's positive outcome.
Investigating Officer, DC Toni James of Haringey's Sapphire Unit said: "Hristov controlled these women psychologically, he made threats that he would harm their families if they did not comply, and profited from exploiting them for his own gain in the most humiliating and horrible way.
"His victims were in no doubt that he had the knowledge and means to carry out his threats and were trapped in a situation from which they were only able to escape with extreme courage and bravery.
"We take every allegation extremely seriously and will continue to do all we can to work with the CPS and bring successful prosecutions against those who seek to gain from exploiting or harming other human beings."
(BMcC/KMcA)
Plamen Hristov, 34, from Cumberland Road, Reading appeared at Wood Green Crown Court on Thursday, 27 August, and was sentenced to 66 months imprisonment for threatening to harm their families if they failed to play along.
Hristov was found guilty of three counts of controlling prostitution for gain and three counts of arranging or facilitating arrival into the UK of a person for sexual exploitation.
An investigation began on in March this year when a 23 year-old Bulgarian woman reported to police that almost two years ago she had been befriended by Hristov while in Bulgaria.
Hristov promised her a job in his shop if she moved to the UK.
He paid for her flight into the UK and took her to an address in Guildford where he told her she was now a prostitute and must give him all the money.
She tried to refuse but Hristov threatened to harm her family in Bulgaria if she didn't co-operate.
Believing and fearing that he had the knowledge and means to carry out his threats, the woman co-operated.
Hristov made all the arrangements between the woman and the clients and kept all the money and made further threats towards her, forcing her to call others to join her in the UK.
First she was forced to persuade a 21 year-old friend to come over to the UK and then she was threatened to persuade her own 21 year-old sister to the UK to work in Hristov's 'shop'.
The women's travelling expenses were funded by Hristov, and they each only learned the true nature of the work they were to carry out once they had arrived in the UK.
All three continued to work as prostitutes in the areas of Balham, Reading and Tottenham, having been warned that their families would be hurt if they said anything or refused.
At the time of reporting to police the women were living in Wood Green and detectives from Haringey's Sapphire Unit took ownership of the investigation and pursued it to it's positive outcome.
Investigating Officer, DC Toni James of Haringey's Sapphire Unit said: "Hristov controlled these women psychologically, he made threats that he would harm their families if they did not comply, and profited from exploiting them for his own gain in the most humiliating and horrible way.
"His victims were in no doubt that he had the knowledge and means to carry out his threats and were trapped in a situation from which they were only able to escape with extreme courage and bravery.
"We take every allegation extremely seriously and will continue to do all we can to work with the CPS and bring successful prosecutions against those who seek to gain from exploiting or harming other human beings."
(BMcC/KMcA)
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