UK gang sentenced to 74 years as BBC’s Crimewatch reveals brutal exploitation faced by victims

BBC’s Crimewatch Live has aired a segment exposing a harrowing human trafficking case in the UK – and the vital role Justice & Care played in supporting survivors in to secure a 74-year sentence for their exploiters. 

The case involved up to 25 women, many of them British, who were sexually exploited by a Romanian organised crime group operating in Dundee, Scotland. 

The women were groomed through the ‘Loverboy’ tactic – coerced into sexual activity under the illusion of romantic relationships. They were plied with crack cocaine and alcohol, with the gang using their growing addictions as a method to control and trap them in a cycle of sexual abuse.  

One woman was forced into prostitution, and police believe that this was the traffickers’ plan for the other victims. Videos recorded by the gang exposed the inhumane treatment they faced, with one showing a woman climbing a tree after the trafficker told her: ‘Because you do not make money, you stay all day in the tree.’

When Police Scotland struggled to engage the victims, they turned to Justice & Care’s Victim Navigator team for support in 2022. The pioneering programme sees specialist workers embedded in police forces across the UK, supporting survivors to bring their exploiters to justice and start to rebuild their lives. Where only 44% of modern slavery victims typically engage with police, that figure rises to 92% with a Navigator by their side. 

Ten women gave evidence – eight of them supported by us – and their bravery led to convictions for the five gang members, who received a combined sentence of 74 years in October this year. 

Ringleader Mircea Marian Cumpanasoiu was handed a 24-year extended sentence, with 20 years in jail and four years on licence. Remus Stan was sentenced to 12 years in jail; Catalin Dobre was sentenced to 10 years in jail; Cristian Urlateanu was handed a 20-year extended sentence, with 18 years in jail and two years on licence; and Alexandra Bugonea was sentenced to eight years in jail.

Justice and Care’s Victim Navigators were named Policing Partner of the Year by Police Scotland Tayside in 2023 after being ‘pivotal’ to building trust between victims and investigators. 

In the Crimewatch Live episode, Debi Lloyd, Head of UK Counter Trafficking Operations, shares how the Navigator built trust over time, helping many of the women feel safe enough to give evidence.  

She said: ‘We’re all about turning that victims into a witness, into a survivor, so by the end of the journey when they’re ready to give evidence in court and testify against these individuals that have put them through horrific times, they come out empowered at the other end. 

‘We’re still engaged with the girls who we started that journey with. The Victim Navigator is there for the long haul until the survivor is empowered to leave and stand on their own two feet.’ 

The segment also featured our partners at Police Scotland; Detective Chief Inspector Scott Carswell who said he ‘dreaded to think what would have happened in the community with the gang if we hadn’t got this case to where we did’. 

‘The victims stepped up and had the courage to speak out and tell us their story and it was a great feeling because I was confident at this point we could get it over the line in court, which is testament to them that they had that courage to come forward and do this’, he added. 

The case is a sobering reminder that modern slavery is happening here in the UK, hidden in plain sight. An estimated 122,000 victims are trapped across the country, and 50 million worldwide – exploited in sectors from care and construction, to car washes and nail bars. 

You can watch the full Crimewatch Live episode on BBC iPlayer – the segment begins at 11 minutes in. 

Join us in the fight against modern slavery: you can learn the signs of modern slavery and how to report concerns here.