Fred and Rosemary West’s former home ‘used by sex traffickers’

Three people arrested on suspicion of operating vice ring said to have used home where Charmaine West was killed in 1971 Three people have been charged with conspiracy to traffic women into prostitution in the UK as part of a suspected vice ring that operated from addresses including the former Gloucester home of serial killers Fred and Rosemary West. Simultaneous raids in Gloucester, south London and Bradford followed an investigation by the Metropolitan police’s human exploitation and organised crime command and Czech authorities into a suspected organised prostitution ring, which saw women trafficked into the UK and forced into prostitution and sham marriages. A further three people were arrested in the Czech Republic. Officers are understood to be aware of seven alleged victims. The police operation was described as being “pre-planned and intelligence-led” after it was alleged female victims were lured to the UK with the promise of a job or holiday. Members of the alleged gang are suspected of using the rundown white two-storey Midland Road house where Rosemary West murdered her husband’s stepdaughter Charmaine in 1971 and buried her beneath the kitchen floor. Her remains were not exhumed until 23 years later after the Wests were arrested over 11 more murders at their nearby Cromwell Road home which was subsequently demolished. The Midland Road house was the Wests’ first married home after a period living in a caravan. Charmaine and Anne Marie, Fred West’s daughter by his previous wife Rena, went to live there in 1970. Ludmila Nistorova, 52, of Raglan Court in Gloucester appeared at Cheltenham magistrates court on Friday. She is charged with conspiracy to traffic into the UK as well as conspiracy to traffic within the UK for exploitation and sexual exploitation, conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and conspiracy to “facilitate commission of a breach of UK immigration law”. She was remanded in custody to appear before Southwark crown court in London on Wednesday. Votjech Virag, a 25-year-old man, and Iveta Viragova, a 43-year-old woman, were arrested at an address in Nutwell Street, Tooting, south London and appeared at Westminster magistrates court on the same five charges. They were also remanded in custody to appear alongside Nistorova in court next week. The three men arrested in the Czech Republic, aged 35, 28 and 41, are currently subject to extradition proceedings. One of them is reportedly Nistorova’s son. Police said further searches were made at another two addresses in Gloucester and one in Bradford, but no arrests were made. All three have been remanded in custody to appear in court next week. Crime Prostitution Human trafficking Robert Booth guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.