Brothers jailed for forcing 20-year-old into prostitution and taking away her passport

The victim became pregnant after a condom split and was made to continue working
Ilcic and Ioan Dumitru were jailed for modern slavery offences
Met Police
Ellena Cruse25 July 2020
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Two brothers who made a young woman work as a prostitute, even when she later became pregnant with a client's baby, have been jailed.

Ilcic Dumitru, 19, and Ioan Dumitru, 24 both from Plumstead, were sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.

The court heard how the 20-year-old victim, from Romania, was lured into coming to the UK on the promise of a factory job.

An airline ticket was purchased for her and on 7 April 2019 she arrived at Luton Airport.

The woman was held in a flat in Plumstead
Met Police

She was collected by the two brothers and was taken to a house in Plumstead, where two other Romanian females were living. Her travel documents were then taken from her.

On the evening of her arrival, she was told to get ready and wear "sexy clothes" as they were going out to work in north London. Here she was handed a small bag of wipes and condoms and told she was working the streets.

Despite telling the men she had never done this type of work before, she was told she would learn.

Ilcic Dumitru
Met Police

The victim was forced into having her first customer that night and Ioan Dumitru threatened to ‘break her head’ if she did not make any money for them. During one of her first outings on the street, the condom split and she became pregnant.

Through the fear of violence and the control the brothers had on her she continued working on the street as a sex worker. She was forced to sleep with 10 to 15 clients a day, sometimes making up to a £1,000 a day, which was taken straight from her.

She was regularly beaten and abused by her captors, once with a stick on the back of her legs and was never allowed to leave the house on her own.

Ioan Dumitru
Met Police

When she was around seven months pregnant, she feared the baby was dead following a forced abortion attempt, as she could no longer feel it move. It was around this time that a client asked her if she was in touch with her family in Romania and she shared the awful things that had happened to her.

A week later, the unknown man came to see her again and gave her a small mobile phone which she hid.

How she made her escape

She managed to get in contact with her family in Romania without her captors' knowledge and told her family of her situation in the UK.

On 18 December 2019, Romanian authorities contacted Met officers from the Modern Slavery and Child Sexual Exploitation Unit (MSCE).

Two Romanian officers, who are seconded to the UK to help with international affairs with Romania, were "instrumental" with helping the case. They and a team of officers were immediately deployed to the address and both men were arrested for offences under Section 2 of the Modern Slavery Act, controlling prostitution and actual bodily harm. Ilcic was additionally arrested for being concerned in the supply of drugs after evidence was discovered on his phone at the time of his arrest.

The judge handed the pair a combined sentence of more than 30 years

Ilcic was sentenced to 15 years and three months imprisonment for conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the trafficking into the UK a person for sexual exploitation, conspiracy to hold a person in servitude and being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs, namely cocaine.

Ioan was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the trafficking into the UK a person for sexual exploitation and conspiracy to hold a person in servitude.

Detective Inspector Grant Anderson, from the MSCE unit, said: “This was an awful crime which subjected a vulnerable young woman to a hideous way of life. We know she will never forget her time in captivity but I can report she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

“I hope she now has some closure after knowing these men will be behind bars for a long time.

“We are committed to bringing these offenders to justice and will continue to work with local and oversea partners to do this.”

Signs to look out for

The Met said Modern slavery could be happening in your community and it is important to look out for signs.

These include a person looking unkempt, malnourished or injured, appearing afraid and refusing to make eye contact or doing long hours, wearing unsuitable clothing or having the wrong equipment for a job.

The force also asked people to look out for overcrowded, poorly maintained properties where the curtains are always closed.

To report a suspicion or seek advice call the Modern Slavery Helpline confidentially on 08000121700, 24 hours a day.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in