Corby man was already on police bail while running brothel on Oakley Vale estate

When police raided a home in leafy Sunbury-on-Thames in September 2019 they uncovered a seedy conspiracy by a Polish organised crime gang involving a network of brothels across the south of England.

Women who had found themselves alone and penniless who had been forced to work as prostitutes against their will bravely spoke to officers and to the slavery charity Justice and Care about their harrowing experiences. Those responsible for running the brothels were placed on bail while enquiries were carried out.

But while three establishments in and around Surrey were shut down, Mariusz Moniuszko simply moved to the Oakley Vale estate in Corby where he started up another brothel to rake in thousands more in illegitimate cash.One member of the gang even applied for £90,000 in Government Covid bounceback loans.

Today His Honour Judge Rufus Taylor expose the plight of some of the women involved as he sentenced members of the gang at Guildford Crown Court.

Addressing the four defendants, he said: "You all worked within a Polish organised criminal group.

"The women involved were all Polish and one was Ukrainian. They were driven to this work due to economic hardship."

One of the victims had been trafficked to the UK from the Ukraine by lorry.

"After working for slave wages in a hotel she found herself forced into prostitution in an attempt to pay the £4,500 trafficking debt," he said.

The woman then escaped from one Polish gang, only to find herself in the clutches of another, with her passport removed and all her wages taken from her.

One of the other victims had been 'dealt a dreadful hand in life,' said Judge Taylor, adding: "She'd been orphaned at the age of two and grown up in care in Poland.

"At 18 she came to the UK to pick fruit and found herself homeless."

After responding to a job advert online, a taxi arrived at her door within an hour and she was taken to the brothel where she was immediately told to make the bed.

"She was having sex with a 60-year-old Polish client within minutes," said Judge Taylor.

"You exhibited complete callousness towards her.

"She was told, 'you are going to do sex here, bitch.' " The woman was then made to have sex between ten and 12 times a day.

"If ever there was an argument against sex work being seen as empowering, this is it," said Judge Taylor.

"You treated her without a shred of compassion."

Other women gave statements detailing how they had come to the UK from Poland for two-week stints to work in the brothels, forced to become prostitutes because of economic hardship.

They were making about £500 per day each for the gang.

"They'd be shuttled from one brothel to another," said Judge Taylor.

During 2019, Mariusz Moniuszko, of Buttercup Close, Corby, had been left in charge of a string of brothels in the south of England while the business kingpin Adrian Sieredzinski was in Poland.

After three of the brothels at Staines Road West in Sunbury-on-Thames, Depot Road in Epsom and Church Street East in Woking. were raided in September of that year Moniuszko was placed on bail. But using fake documents he rented a house in Buttercup Close, Corby, to open another brothel where Polish women were again repeatedly exploited.

That brothel, along with one in Burlington Road, New Malden, were raided in March 2020.

Moniuszko, 39, was today jailed following a month-long trial in December. The jury heard the empire was being run by a man named Adrian Sieredzinski who was operating under an apparently legitimate UK business he had set up called Surrey Construction PL.

While Sieredzinski - who is currently being prosecuted in Poland - was in his home country, he left his right-hand man Moniuszko in charge of the UK arm of his business.

Adrian's brother Dariusz Sieredzinski, 34, of Maidstone Road, Kent, also became involved, and his sister Justyna Sieredzinska, 30, of Sycamore Close, Kettering, started working as a receptionist in the brothels.

After her arrest, Sieredzinska was held on remand and the court was told she had given birth to her son while in custody.

She had been in charge of sorting out appointments for the girls, liaising with women who wanted to work there, and of dealing with listings on Adultwork and other escort websites.

A second woman, Magdalena Drozdzal, 29, of Woodcote Lane, Purley, was recruited to work two-week-on, two-week-off shifts as a receptionist alongside Justyna. She was arrested after a further raid at another brothel in Bromley last March as part of a separate investigation. The man suspected of running that brothel is still at large.

One of the trafficked women who gave evidence described how it had been Drozdzal who had showed her around the brothel when she first arrived.

Both Sieredzinska and Drozdzal received sham payments from Surrey Construction in April 2019. The invoices were described as being payments for 'painting'.

The women received nine per cent commission for each client they booked. During 2019, £20,000 was paid from the Surrey Construction account to the Justyna Sieredzinska, and the court heard this suggested that around £200,022 had gone through the books.

The court was also told how Dariusz Sieredzinski had profited from a £90,000 application for Government bounce-back loans that had been handed out during the Covid pandemic. The loans had been applied for in different names but Sieredzinski had transferred £8,000 of the cash from a business account to a personal account in June last year.

Judge Taylor said that right until they were placed in custody after being charged in February 2021, the group was still trying to recruit prostitutes to work in a brothel in Beckenham.

People living on the Oakley Vale estate told this newspaper today that even after the brothel was raided, suspicious people continued to come to the area and knock on their doors while looking for the brothel.

Moniuszko was found guilty of conspiracy to control prostitution for gain; facilitating the travel of another with a view to her being sexually exploited; possession of criminal property to the value of £17,815; and fraud relating to the possession and use of 15 Polish identity documents, two driving licences and eight bank cards. In mitigation, the court heard that Moniuszko had never been to prison before. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison.

Judge Taylor was told that Dariusz Sieredzinski had come to the country in 2015 and had a heart condition that needed continuous monitoring, but that monitoring hadn't taken place while he had been in prison. Sieredzinski was found guilty of conspiracy to control prostitution for gain; possession of criminal property in the form of bank credits to the value of £13,019.56; two counts of possessing articles for use in fraud and two further counts of fraud which relate to two fraudulent COVID business bounce back loan applications totaling £90,000. He was sentenced to 32 months in prison.

The court heard Justyna Sieredzinska had been pregnant when she was arrested and gave birth while on remand. The court was told she had a degree in management and production engineering and had never been in trouble before. She was released in September 2021 after having her baby but had since served 130 days on an electronic curfew. She was found guilty of conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and of possession of criminal property in the form of bank credits to the value of £20,440.80. She was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for a year. She was also ordered to complete a 20-day rehabilitation requirement.

Separately, Drozdzal pleaded guilty earlier this month to conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and of possessing criminal property in the form of bank credits. The court heard how she had arrived in the UK in 2013 aged just 21 and had references from former employers who described her as 'kind, warm and open'. She was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

The investigation was undertaken by a Joint Investigation Team with Surrey Police, the Polish Police and the Office of the Department for Organised Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Bialystok, Poland.

Detective Sergeant Martyn Linton, who investigated the case, said: “This was high end organised criminality perpetrated by a dangerous group of individuals who preyed on females for profit. In dismantling the criminal group, we’ve identified over 100 women connected with the case and three were courageous enough to come forward and help speak out in court against their oppressors.

"This was one of the most extensive modern slavery human trafficking investigations we’ve ever pursued at Surrey Police and today’s result shows that exploiters will be held accountable for their actions. Sadly though, we know there are still others out there who perpetrate this horrific crime type and we are continuing our work to target these criminals. We take all reports of modern slavery seriously, so if you suspect someone is being sexually exploited, please contact us.”

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Sean West, said “This group of criminals didn’t recognise county or country borders and this result is a real testament to how closely we’ve worked with our police colleagues in this country and in Poland.

"Being part of a Joint Investigation Team alongside the Polish authorities allowed us to pursue lines of enquiry beyond just the UK and trace those involved, no matter where they live.

"Reports from our communities who suspected something wasn’t quite right were crucial to this investigation and played a key role in helping us bring the group’s victims to safety. Surrey Police is committed to rooting out this often unseen crime and bringing offenders like these to justice. The women that were exploited by this group have had horrific experiences. We’ve worked really closely with Justice and Care to safeguard the victims, and the support the charity has been able to give them has been invaluable.”

Christian Guy, CEO of Justice and Care, said: “Modern slavery is a complex crime and far too common in the UK, with those responsible rarely brought to justice. We are delighted to have been able to support the survivors who gave evidence in this trial, whose lives were devastated by these criminals. Their courage is deeply inspiring. This case demonstrates that outstanding policing coupled with specialist care for those impacted can make all the difference in bringing those responsible to justice.”