UK, Ireland /
BEWARE when coming over UK [363]
'Mum was forced to work as sex slave'
Jury told that friends from Poland were threatened into prostitution
by Rod Hopkinson
A POLISH married mum sobbed as she told a jury how she was forced to have sex after being promised bar work in England.
The 27-year-old woman had flown to England months earlier with a woman friend to earn money to improve their life, Leeds Crown Court was told.
But they were then allegedly both forced to work as sex slaves in a brothel in a parade of shops in Town Street, Armley, Leeds.
Grzegorz Szydlowski allegedly conned the women into believing they would be doing honest work.
But, claimed the prosecution, his intention was always to make them work as prostitutes.
Airport
"He collected them from Liverpool airport last June and set them up in a flat in Leeds – providing food and accommodation," said Richard Woolfall, prosecuting.
"He then threatened them and used violence to make them work in the brothel in Armley and made them pay him £200 a week. He also took other money from them when he could find it."
The two victims, the court heard, were reliant on him and afraid of him said Mr Woolfall who added: "He controlled them and they were so frightened they did as he wanted."
When they were driven to the flat in Longroyd Avenue, Beeston, Leeds, another Polish man was present.
The mum, who can't be named for legal reasons, said Szydlowski's friend forced her into having sex five times during her stay at the flat.
Giving evidence through an interpreter, the woman broke down saying: "He knew I wasn't consenting. I tried to stop him but he was a big man, heavily built. I couldn't do a lot."
Denial
Szydlowski, 25, has denied two offences of bringing the women to the UK for sexual exploitation between May and June this year.
He has also pleaded not guilty to two further offences of intentionally arranging them to work as prostitutes.
The woman managed to contact her husband in Poland – who had agreed she would have a better chance of earning money if she went to England – and she told him she and her friend had been beaten and threatened into working in the brothel.
Police became involved and when Szydlowski was interviewed after his arrest he claimed the women wanted to work as masseurs because they had done it before.
He also said he was never aggressive towards the women or threatened them.
Proceeding
19 October
