Swindon couple jailed for trafficking vulnerable women

The investigation into Cristian Simion (right) and Mihaela Borcos (left) took three-and-a-half-years

A couple who made about £70,000 trafficking sex workers around the UK has been jailed.

Cristian Simion and Mihaela Borcos are the first to be prosecuted by Wiltshire Police under the Modern Slavery Act.

The pair were tracked down to Swindon after a sex worker was interviewed by police in north Wales. They were convicted following a 15-day trial.

Simion was sentenced to two years and five months and Borcos to two years and two months at Salisbury Crown Court.

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

During a lengthy three-and-a-half year investigation, officers discovered Simion and Borcos were using vulnerable women, often from their homeland of Romanian.

Profiles of these women were uploaded onto adult websites and they were moved around the country to carry out sex work.

'Large cut of money'

The pair, who were in a relationship, then took a large cut of what the women earned.

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

The couple, now living in Grays, Essex, were both found guilty of one charge of human trafficking at Swindon Crown Court in July.

Simion, 29, was also convicted of two counts of money laundering and Borcos, 25, was convicted of one count of money laundering.

Det Con Nick Bishop said the couple were "trafficking vulnerable women and profiting from their misery".

"They exploited these women, many of whom could not speak English and were unable to find legal work in this country, with little or no regard for their welfare or wellbeing," he said.

"This case shows that human trafficking and modern slavery are very real crimes, with very real victims, and we will work hard to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice."