Roci & Anor, R. v

Deterrent sentences are appropriate for organised commercial trafficking and control of prostitution for gain. However, sentence must remain proportionate to the offenders’ actual culpability. Relevant matters include the degree of coercion and exploitation, the planning and duration of the operation, financial gain, and each offender’s role. The fact that adult victims travelled intending to work as prostitutes does not remove the seriousness of their exploitation, but substantially lesser coercion may justify lower sentences than cases involving coercion and corruption of a more serious kind.

The appellants pleaded guilty at a late stage in the Southwark Crown Court to conspiracy offences arising from the trafficking of Lithuanian women to the United Kingdom for prostitution and the control of their work after arrival.

Roci received four years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to control prostitution for gain. Ismailaj, who was substantially more involved, received 11 years’ imprisonment for conspiracy to arrange or facilitate arrival in the United Kingdom for sexual exploitation. Both were recommended for deportation.

They appealed their sentences as excessive, relying respectively on Roci’s lesser role and the limited coercion of adult women who had travelled intending to work as prostitutes.

1. Both appeals were allowed. The court accepted that the offending required deterrent sentences. It involved commercial gain, substantial duration, planning and organisation, and the exploitation of women required to surrender most of their earnings.

2. Nevertheless, the sentences imposed were excessive when measured against the actual seriousness of this offending. The women were adults who had come to the United Kingdom intending to work as prostitutes. They had not been corrupted into prostitution. Although they were subjected to coercive and unacceptable working conditions, the coercion was extremely limited when compared with the more serious coercion and corruption described in Maka.

3. The court therefore gave effect to the differences in culpability while maintaining the need for deterrence. Ismailaj was the principal participant. Roci was his eager lieutenant, but played a less significant role.

4. Roci’s four-year sentence was quashed and replaced with three years’ imprisonment. Ismailaj’s 11-year sentence was quashed and replaced with nine years’ imprisonment.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): Allowed both sentence appeals and substituted reduced custodial sentences: [2005] EWCA Crim 3404.
• Southwark Crown Court: On 22 February 2005, imposed four years’ imprisonment on Roci and 11 years’ imprisonment on Ismailaj following late guilty pleas.