SIX foreign nationals from Thailand and Malaysia have been sent away

for a total of 17-and-a-half years for their part in a sex slave ring

which was uncovered in Plymouth.

Eight people – six women and

two men – appeared at Plymouth Crown Court yesterday to be sentenced

for a range of offences including trafficking a woman for sexual

exploitation, managing a brothel, conspiracy to control prostitution

for gain, money laundering and causing or inciting prostitution for

gain.

The court heard how the victim, a 29-year-old mother of two, was trafficked into the UK to pay off a vast debt.

She

had been told she would be a waitress, but on arrival she was put to

work against her will in a series of brothels across Britain, including

St Judes in Plymouth, Chesterfield and Aberdeen. Each day she was

forced to have sex with up to 15 men, some of whom beat her or forced

her to perform perverse and violent sexual acts. At one stage she fled

her "owners'" clutches only to be tricked into the hands of another

trafficker.

She was eventually rescued by one of her clients in Plymouth who took pity on her and alerted police.

Judge

Francis Gilbert QC said the victim was turned into "a sex slave" and

each of the defendants "must have known that she was under coercion".

He

said their claims, made in mitigation, of ignorance that she was debt

bonded and forced into prostitution were "beyond belief".

He said each of them were "exploiting her and profiting from her".

The

case saw Devon and Cornwall police's Serious and Organised Crime

investigation Team (SOCIT) travel the length of the UK and even to

Thailand to crack open the evil trade.

All the defendants had pleaded guilty at previous hearings.

Lim

Grace, aged 19, from Malaysia, was sent to a Young Offenders

Institution for two and a half years for two counts of managing

brothels in Plymouth and Taunton; Chananchida Chankaeo, aged 28, from

Thailand was jailed for two years for causing or inciting prostitution

for gain; Jutamas Songglin, aged 26, from Thailand, was jailed for four

years for trafficking a woman within the UK for sexual exploitation and

received a 12 month concurrent sentence for using a fake passport to

open a bank account; Vithool Gomart aged 51, from Thailand, was jailed

for three-and-a-half years for trafficking a woman within the UK for

sexual exploitation; Yu Ming Lee, aged 32 from Malaysia, was jailed for

four years for conspiracy to control prostitution for gain in Plymouth,

three years for a similar charge from Nottinghamshire and two years one

count of possession of criminal property in Nottingham, all to run

concurrently.

Lee's aunt, Foong Choo Lee received an 18 month sentence for conspiracy to control prostitution for gain.

Last

year another woman involved in the Plymouth brothel, in Gascoyne Place,

St Judes – 57-year-old Ching Tiong – was jailed for two years after

pleading guilty to running a brothel.

Two others involved in the gang – Mee Wong and Jarawee Faknak – are set to be sentenced on February 17.