Prostitute's clients 'helped woman flee trafficking gang

[Sweet Emily J 172062]

Prostitute's clients 'helped woman flee trafficking gang

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24945516

 

Two clients of a woman who says she was forced into prostitution offered to pay for her to escape, a court has heard.

 

The woman, from Hungary, who cannot be identified, told Hove Crown Court she began recording conversations to build up evidence against those in charge.

 

Mate Puskas, 25, Victoria Brown, 25, Zoltan Mohacsi, 36, Istvan Toth, 34, and Peter Toth, 28, are accused of conspiracy to control prostitutes and trafficking for sexual exploitation.

 

They all deny the charges.

 

The defendants are accused of bringing more than 50 women into the UK from eastern Europe via Luton, Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

 

Family safety fears

The 24-year-old Hungarian woman told the court she had been placed in brothels in Eastbourne, East Sussex, and in London.

 

She said when she told Istvan Toth she wanted to return to Hungary he had threatened her, causing her to fear for her family's safety.

 

So she began recording conversations and taking photographs, and she confided in two of her clients, who offered to pay for her to stay in a hostel, she said.

 

As a result, she said, she was able to leave the brothel in Woolwich, south-east London.

 

Mate Puskas of Billingshurst Road, Ashington, West Sussex, Victoria Brown, of Ockley Road, Bognor Regis, Zoltan Mohacsi, from Cranbrook Road, London and brothers Istvan Toth and Peter Toth, both of St John's Road, Eastbourne, deny all the charges against them.

 

The trial continues.