Woman 'treated worse than a dog' by sex trafficker couple

A heartless couple enslaved a vulnerable Romanian woman after deceiving her with promises of a better life. Jean Marinel Mihai, 29, flew the woman from Romania to Liverpool in December 2018 after she had suffered "years of physical and emotional abuse" in her native country.

Upon arrival, she was placed in a guest house and put to work as a sex worker in the Cheetham Hill and Strangeways areas of Manchester. Mihai pocketed at least £100,000 over a 15 month period as the woman was forced into sexual encounters with up to ten men a day, the MEN reports.

At Manchester Crown Court today, September 19, Judge Rachel Smith said: “She didn’t know what she was doing, where she was going, save and except that she was being moved to the UK to make money for Mr Mihai as a prostitute.

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“He took all of her money, he assaulted her on a number of occasions. She was frightened of him because there were occasions of physical violence. Mr Mihai would ring her every day to check up on whether she was working and how much money she was earning.”

Mihai’s former girlfriend, Florentina Doina Urmuz, also became involved in the exploitation, kidnapping her off Broughton Street, Manchester, on March 2 2020. The two women were known to each other as the woman had previously lived with Urmuz' mother in Romania, where "she was treated as a slave", "forced to do housework and sex work and give the family all her earnings", and subjected to "years of physical and emotional abuse".

The judge said: "The kidnapping was pre-planned. You and the two men in the car had travelled from the Midlands. She was frightened of you. She was vulnerable, you knew that. You knew she was being kidnapped to be handed over from one exploitative man to another, to be enslaved within prostitution.”

Urmuz, 27, treated the woman as a "business asset", the court heard. The abuse had "dreadful consequences" for the victim, including daily sexual exploitation and fear of physical and psychological abuse.

Mihai’s lawyer claimed the defendant was remorseful. But the judge said: “I regret to say that I find this difficult to accept, given the history since the guilty pleas and the view I formed of Mr Mihai’s evidence.”

She said Mihai was "not an honest or reliable witness" after he claimed he had earned less money from the woman than the judge ultimately ruled. She added: “I am not satisfied he is in any meaningful sense remorseful for his offences."

Prosecutor Zoe Dawson told how the victim had lived with Urmuz' family for more than a decade after fleeing an abusive home and becoming a sex worker "in order to survive". It was through Urmuz she met Mihai, who brought her to Liverpool.

She later met an outreach worker who assists sex workers, and a charity subsequently found her a place to stay. But she was then physically assaulted and kidnapped by Urmuz and driven to a house in Derbyshire, which was described as "another place in order for her to continue to be exploited".

Later, Urmuz discovered that her victim had been reported missing to police, and a plan was arranged to travel back to Manchester an "spin the police a yarn" that the woman had gone with Urmuz voluntarily. She took the woman to a police station, but was promptly arrested. Mihai was arrested in 2021 after arriving on a flight into the UK.

A support worker who later assisted the victim said: "When I first began to work with her, she was like an empty shell. She seemed unable to function without someone to direct her. She was treated worse than a dog."

Mihai, formerly of High Street, Slough, pleaded guilty to requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour and arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation, and was sentenced to ten years in prison, Urmuz, formerly of Wilbraham Road, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to kidnapping, and was sentenced to six years.

Senior investigation officer Detective Inspector Tony Platten said: "I would like to commend the survivor for her incredible strength throughout this entire process, and for trusting us and our partners to get justice.

"She endured years of abuse and coercion by this group, forced to live in unimaginable conditions for so much of her life. They took extraordinary measures to conceal their illicit operation, but I am glad today to see that they will now face a considerable time behind bars, before they will be deported by our immigration colleagues."