Two Hungarian nationals who trafficked young women into Britain and forced them to work in north London as sex slaves have each been jailed for eight years.
Joszef Budai, 24, and Andrea Novak, 20, were sentenced at Croydon Crown Court after being convicted of a string of trafficking and prostitution offences. Delivering his sentence, his Honour Judge Simon Pratt described the case as "the closest to human slavery as you could possibly get".
During the trial, the court heard how the pair lured a series of young Hungarian women to the UK with the promise of lucrative work. Some of the women knew they would be expected to engage in "erotic work" but were attracted by promises that they would earn more than £1,000 a week. Others had no idea they would be working in the sex industry.
On entering Britain, the young women were taken to a flat in Glenmore Road in Belsize Park, where they worked servicing clients from 9 a.m. until 2 a.m. The pair charged individuals £140 an hour for the young women's services, but kept the majority of the cash for themselves - giving their victims pocket money for food. Some of the young women were barred from leaving the flat, while at least one was physically, mentally and verbally abused.
The court heard a series of testimonies from victims - including one 19-year-old student, named "Julianna", who responded to an online advertisement posted by Ms Novak under the pseudonym "Betty" as a way to earn some cash to complete her studies and buy a motorbike.
She flew to Luton Airport in April 2009 and was met by Ms Novak. At the premises she met another young woman, Natalia, 27, and was told she would be working and living with her at the address. Her details were advertised on a website and she was put to work dealing with up to eight visitors a night for sexual services.
During the two weeks she worked for the gang she earned £1,500 but was given just £300 of the total. When she asked to leave, she was told she could not go anywhere until she had worked off her travel and living costs. The two women escaped with the help of Julianna's friends in Bristol who collected them by car.
They then alerted the Hungarian Embassy in London which, in turn, contacted the Metropolitan Police Service's Human Trafficking Team. Officers arrested Ms Novak and Mr Budai on May 12 and they were charged the next day.
Ms Novak and Mr Budai were each found guilty of three counts of conspiracy to traffic in to the UK for sexual exploitation and received two years for each count to run concurrently. They were also found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and sentenced to two years on one count and six years on the other count, to run concurrently, making a total of eight years each.