Five Jailed Over Sex Trafficking

Five Albanian men who made a £2m fortune from trafficking young women into a prostitution ring were today jailed for a total of 63 years.

The men were sentenced to up to 18 years each at Southwark crown court, in London, for conspiring to traffic women to Britain for "sexual exploitation". The offence has never before been tried at a UK court.

Four brothers - Flamur Demarku, 33, Xhevair Demarku, 29, and Agron and Bedri Demarku, both 22 - and a friend, Izzet Fejzullahu, 32, bought girls from fellow traffickers before forcing them work as sex slaves in seven brothels across west London.

Sentencing the gang today, Judge Anthony Pitts said the "family firm" had tricked and betrayed women into selling their bodies.

"They were bought and worked effectively for nothing," the judge said. "The outlay in buying them was recouped fairly quickly. The rest was pure profit.

"It is necessary to send out a message that people indulging in such a despicable activity cannot be tolerated by a civilised society."

Victims of the gang were lured to the UK with promises of work or sightseeing trips, but ended up trapped in the prostitution ring.

Many were forced to work round-the-clock shifts, and had to see up to 20 clients a day.

The most shocking case uncovered by police was that of a 16-year-old Lithuanian schoolgirl who was invited to London for an all-expenses paid Halloween treat but ended up in brothel in west London, earning thousands of pounds a week for her captors.

In another case, a 19-year-old victim had her virginity "sold" to a customer for £40. She had been led to believe she had a job as a barmaid.

Hundreds of men had sex with the woman over the following months in what Judge Pitts referred to as "multiple rape".

The gang was caught when the schoolgirl's mother reported her missing. The story was picked up by a local Lithuanian TV network and then by the BBC.

At one point the gang sent the girl's mother some money to reassure her that her daughter was safe. Police were then able to trace the girl to an address in Hounslow and rescue her.

Operation Rotunda, in which officers posed as clients at a number of the Demarkus' brothels to gather enough evidence to convict them, was then launched.

Flamur Demarku, of Hounslow, west London, ran the operation with the help of his younger brothers, who lived with him and Fejzullahu, also of Hounslow.

They were all last week convicted of sexual exploitation at Southwark crown court.

They were also found guilty of conspiring to traffic within the UK, causing their victims to "engage in sexual activity without consent", causing prostitution, controlling it and controlling child prostitution.