Trafficking gang exploited women in city

HUNDREDS OF FEMALE VICTIMS WERE TARGETED BY LONDON GANG

MOST of a human trafficking team has been jailed for exploiting hundreds of women across London along with a gang.

Sebastian Zimoch, 48, and Anna

Zimoch, 46, along with Gregaor Borowka, 44, Michael Lozinski, 52, and Rafal Lacki, 41, were convicted at Isleworth Crown Court in March of this year of conspiracy to arrange or facilitate human trafficking and conspiracy to control prostitution for gain, between January 1 2015 and February 9 of last year. Lozinski alone was also convicted of a second count of controlling prostitution for gain between January 1, 2017 and February 9 of last year, in relation to a massage parlour business called Massage Bunnies. The trafficking gang was run by Sebastian Zimoch, with his wife running it during a period when he was absent.

The husband began the business, known as Golden Kiss, in 2015. The court heard that the gang ran at least five brothels, with locations in Acton, Ealing, Paddington, White City and Dudden Hill. Brothels in Paddington and Dudden Hill were run directly by the Zimochs, while Lozinski ran White City. The other locations were run by the three of them at different times.

Gareth Munday, prosecuting, told the court that the women had no autonomy while inside the brothels.

He said: “While the girls were in the brothels they had no choice over what they wanted to do. Men were being brought to them and they had to get on with it. They had absolutely no autonomy.”

Mr Munday said that £232,000 in unexplained earnings had been found in a bank account belonging to Sebastian Zimoch. Lacki and Borowka were two of the main drivers for the business, ferrying girls to outcalls around London. Borowka doubled as receptionist.

The prosecutor told the court that women were exposed to the risk of serious physical and psychological harm on these outcalls and that “hey were left at the mercy of men who could have done anything to these women”.

The court heard from the victim impact statement of one 19-yearold woman who reported the gang to the police. Mr Munday paused to wipe away tears as he read the statement to the court.

In the statement, the woman told of the emotional toll of what had been done to her. She said: “I have been spat at in the face by a client, made to feel stupid, and like I did not matter.”

She said she cries when she remembers what happened to her.

“I cry when I think about everything that has been done to me,” she said. The woman added that she now struggles to trust men.

“When someone is being nice to me, especially men, I always think why are they being nice?”

Her harrowing story was “absolutely key” for detectives working in London and Essex in finding several brothels last year and protecting women, the Metropolitan Police’s modern slavery and child exploitation investigation (MSCE) team said.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the PA news agency the gang “did lots of bad stuff ” and were among “lots of dangerous people” she had met.

The woman said: “I just hope they are going to regret in the present what they did to me and other women. I am just happy that the police helped me and the police believed me. They always supported me. I am just very proud that someone believed me.”

The victim was 18, homeless, spoke little English and was trying to avoid a life on the streets with drug addicts when she became involved with the gang. She answered an online advert which led to her working in a brothel and she later attempted suicide.

The MSCE detectives, who say modern slavery victims often may not trust the police, describe her as “brave”.

She recalled many situations when she wanted to kill herself, but added: “I am just very proud that I kept going, that I am still OK, alive and healthy, that I am safe and free now.”

She hopes to build a new life after having spent two years working at two different brothels.

The victim said she did not know what she was getting into, but from the moment she arrived at the first brothel, she knew she was “in trouble”. Within weeks the people who had drawn her into that life had become “very aggressive”.

The initial kindness she was shown by a female gang member soon disappeared and the victim said she did not think she could escape.

She said the gang used her like a “machine”, and recalled: “I could not do it any more. Drugs only helped me not to sleep – so I was doing drugs and I had no food. I did not even have time to shower.

“I became tired. My health became very bad. One (time) they did not want to give me food when I was too tired. They said I did not deserve to have something to eat.”

She called the police, which resulted in the gang members trying to beat her.

She escaped into a garden and was taken to a hotel by officers. Recalling the decision to speak to the police, she said: “It was the objective of the criminal group for me to believe them because I was so stupid and so young.

“I did believe them and thought maybe they (the police) will not believe me because I was a prostitute. I believed them (the gang), but I thought it is not right what they did to me and what they did to other people. I thought, this is why you have police on this planet.

“They are supposed to be here to listen to us. I was determined and thought ‘I need to speak to someone about it’.”

In her sentencing remarks, Judge Fiona Barrie paid tribute to the 19-year-old victim.

“She has shown herself to be a very brave young woman,” she said.

She said the 19-year-old was in tears when she was picked up by Lozinski after fleeing from an abusive pimp.

“It should have been obvious to anyone that she was extremely vulnerable,” she said. “To the contrary she was put to work straight away, sent out to calls for the remainder of the night.”

Acting Detective Inspector Esther Richardson, from central specialist crime, said: “I am pleased we have been able to uncover the true scale of this illegal operation.

“My team worked tirelessly to identify and safeguard hundreds of other women across London who were being exploited by this organised criminal group.”

Sebastian Zimoch, of Carlton Road, Romford, was jailed for eight years.

Lozinski, of Berwick Avenue, Hayes, was jailed for seven years.

Borowka, of Yeading Avenue, Harrow, was jailed for three years and nine months.

Lacki, 41, of Felmongers, Harlow, was jailed for 18 months, but he was released on licence as he had already served nine months by the time of the sentencing.

Anna Zimoch, of Carlton Road, Romford, was given a two-year jail sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work.

One of the gang members being arrested by police