JUDGES have been urged to severely punish human traffickers following the 'weak' jail sentences handed down in a sex slavery case in Paignton.
Tougher prison terms for criminals involved in the brutal trade were called for by Totnes MP Anthony Steen at Westminster.
Devon's first sex-trafficking case came to court last year after a 19-year-old woman escaped from a brothel in Hyde Road, where she had been forced to have sex with men for £50 a time. She ran into nearby Henry's Bar and shouted for help.
She had been flown in from the Czech Republic via Bristol Airport and promised legitimate work as a masseuse.
The husband and wife brothel keepers were both jailed. Madam Renata Kuznecovova was sentenced to two years and her husband Alexander Kuznecov was sentenced to 18 months after admitting running a brothel from 2A Hyde Road and charging men £50 a time for sex.
Renata was also sentenced to a further two years concurrently after admitting trafficking a Czech woman for prostitution.
A third defendant, Nina Hubackova, was sentenced to four months in prison.
It is estimated the lucrative business netted Kuznecov and Kuznecovova £30,000.
The case was highlighted in the Commons by Mr Steen, who is pressing for a national anti-slavery day to be introduced in England and Wales to raise awareness of the crime.
He told the chamber human trafficking was 'everywhere'.
"It is not just in the cities," Mr Steen told fellow MPs, describing how the teenaged girl ran out of the brothel after being assaulted.
He said the Devon and Cornwall police force had handled the case 'magnificently'.
Mr Steen added: "As she had agreed to give evidence, the two women who had been running the brothel agreed to plead guilty and were sentenced.
"However, although I mean no disrespect to the judge, I must say he gave a really rather weak sentence.
"The judiciary, as well as the police, need to be trained to realise trafficking is part of the scenery in this country and it needs to be severely punished."
Mr Steen, who is chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Trafficking of Women and Children, said an annual event would make people aware of the 'dangers and consequences' of modern-day slavery.
Introducing his Anti-Slavery Day Bill, which has cross-party support, he told MPs many thousands of people were being sold as commodities and forced into slavery in the UK.
He said: "People trafficking is, in essence, about people being forced to do things against their will. Victims are deceived or duped into a situation which is not what it at first appeared to be."
His Bill was given an unopposed second reading. It then went on to complete all its remaining Commons stages without a vote and now goes to the Lords.
Sex slavery case highlighted by MP
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