Swindon pair found guilty of trafficking vulnerable women

The investigation into the couple's activities took three-and-a-half-years

A couple who made about £70,000 trafficking sex workers around the UK have been convicted after a 15-day trial.

Cristian Simion and Mihaela Borcos became the first prosecutions for Wiltshire Police under the Modern Slavery Act.

The couple were tracked down to Swindon after a sex worker was interviewed in Wrexham, north Wales.

Their trial followed a three-and-a-half year police investigation.

Wiltshire Police said their officers were first alerted in May 2017 when North Wales Police spoke to a woman at a hotel in Wrexham who said she was being put to work by an organised crime group in Swindon.

Enquiries led police to an address in Grantham Close, Freshbrook, Swindon, and the lengthy investigation began.

Enquiries led police back to an address in Swindon

Police discovered Simion and Borcos, who were in a relationship, were using vulnerable women, often from their Romanian homeland, who could not speak English and had no way of getting legal work in the UK.

The profiles of these women were uploaded onto adult websites and they were then moved around the country to carry out sex work, with Simion and Borcos taking a cut of what they earned.

Financial records show that between April 2016 and August 2017 Simion made around £60,000 from his operation and Borcos approximately £10,000.

They were charged in September 2020 and although they denied the offences, were convicted on Tuesday after a trial at Swindon Crown Court.

Both were found guilty of one charge of human trafficking while Simion, 29, was convicted of two counts of money laundering and Borcos, 25, was convicted of one count of money laundering.

The pair, both now living in Grays, Essex, were released on conditional bail but ordered to surrender their passports ahead of sentencing on 16 September.

'No regard' for the women

Detective Constable Nick Bishop, from Wiltshire Police, said: "This conviction is a landmark for Wiltshire Police and demonstrates our very real commitment to tackling this type of crime.

"Simion and Borcos trafficked vulnerable people around the country, exploiting them to make large sums of money for themselves.

"They profited from the misery of others, with little or no regard for the welfare and wellbeing of the women they were using."

Kieran Kilgallen, Acting Police and Crime Commissioner, added: "Often exploitation is thought to only happen in bigger cities, but this conviction shows that it does, and is happening in Wiltshire today."