Attorney General's Reference No 6 of 2004

Organised international trafficking of young women for prostitution is exceptionally grave criminality. Sentences must mark its degrading nature, the coercion of victims and the need for substantial deterrence.

Commercial assistance of unlawful immigration may justify five years’ imprisonment. Coercion or corruption in offences of living on prostitution materially increases the proper sentence. Serious kidnapping of trafficked victims and incitement to rape may also require lengthy terms. The total sentence must reflect separate criminal activities and overall criminality, while allowing appropriately for totality and double jeopardy.

The Attorney General obtained leave to refer sentences imposed after the offender’s trial at Wood Green Crown Court. On 22 November 2003, the offender received a total of 10 years’ imprisonment for offences arising from an organised enterprise which brought young women into the United Kingdom, detained or coerced some of them, and exploited them in prostitution.

The convictions included assisting unlawful immigration, living on immoral earnings, kidnapping, procuring a girl under 21 for unlawful sexual intercourse, and incitement to rape. The central issue was whether the individual sentences and the total sentence adequately reflected the gravity and deterrent requirements of the offending.

1. The reference was allowed and the total sentence was increased to 23 years’ imprisonment. The original sentences did not adequately reflect either the guidance applicable to the individual offences or the overall criminality of the organised trafficking enterprise.

2. The court stressed that human trafficking is degrading and intolerable. It causes profound misery and requires sentences which send a clear deterrent message. The offender occupied a principal role in a well-organised international enterprise which deceived young women, brought them unlawfully into the United Kingdom, and in several instances held, coerced or exploited them.

3. For commercial assistance of unlawful immigration contrary to Immigration Act 1971, section 25, five years’ imprisonment was appropriate. The scale, commercial character and multiplicity of the offending outweighed the mitigation arising from guilty pleas.

4. For living on immoral earnings contrary to Sexual Offences Act 1956, section 30, coercion and corruption justified sentences materially above those appropriate for non-coercive offending. Five years was appropriate in relation to the victim subjected to clear coercion and corruption; three years was appropriate in respect of the two women whose longer cohabitation with the offender made their cases somewhat different, but did not remove the coercive element.

5. Serious kidnapping in this context warranted 10 years’ imprisonment. Incitement to rape warranted at least the eight-year term imposed at trial. The court also treated the offending as bearing the characteristics of a campaign of rape.

6. Some sentences had to run concurrently to avoid an excessive aggregate and to allow for double jeopardy. However, consecutive sentences were required where the counts represented separate criminal activities. The court imposed a 23-year total, including consecutive terms of eight, 10 and five years in relation to the offences involving Arabella.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): On a reference by the Attorney General under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the court granted leave and increased the total sentence from 10 years to 23 years’ imprisonment.
• Wood Green Crown Court: Following trial, the offender was sentenced on 22 November 2003 to a total of 10 years’ imprisonment.