Guilty verdicts for brothel gang

Teenagers were tricked into coming to Britain and then held prisoner as sex slaves by an international brothel gang, Southwark Crown Court has heard.

Victims as young as 16 were told they would have their legs broken if they did not "service" dozens of men a week.

The court heard that a Latvian girl was forced into prostitution for a year.

Seven people from Lithuania, China and Britain have admitted controlling prostitution for gain and are due to be sentenced on Friday.

Gun and ammunition

Of those convicted, four were Lithuanian nationals, who were based in west London and Essex.

Mantas Dumasius, 22, from Chapter Way, Wimbledon, south-west London; Virginijus Suchodolskis, 32, of Abbey Mills, Wimbledon; Grazuydas Ruaitis, 24, of Troy Court, High Street, Kensington, west London, and Petra Aleknavicius, 24, of Walfrey Gardens, Dagenham, Essex.

Two Chinese nationals are due to be sentenced on Friday; Yaokang Huang, 27, of Keats Avenue, Woolwich, south-east London, and Karrong Jiang, 26, of Westbourne Terrace, Westminster.

A British national, Edward Hui, 34, of Woolwich Church Street, Woolwich, was also convicted.

In addition to the prostitution charges, Suchodolskis pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, and Dumasius admitted having a prohibited handgun and ammunition.

Sex slaves

Hui, Jiang, and Ruaitis pleaded guilty to drug possession and supplying drugs including cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis.

Detectives had been investigating the gang but did not know some of the prostitutes were tricked into the country and then held as sex slaves, until the Latvian girl escaped on her 17th birthday and contacted the police.

The girl had been advertised on a website as "European Angel," and was hooked on drugs, beaten viciously, and sold to men for a minimum of £150.

She saw her chance to escape in October 2006 after being transferred to a pub in Wolverhampton whose first floor had been turned into a brothel.

The court heard that the gang made up to £5,000 a day from the girls.