A COUPLE who ran a brothel on a residential street in Orford and exploited a young woman have been jailed.

Andrada Barbieru, 21, and Marian Curteanu, 39, of Amelia Street, pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday to controlling prostitution for gain after police raided their house and discovered a 21-year-old Romanian woman inside.

Officers also found around £2,995, a large number of mobile phones and condoms not usually available in this country.

The Warrington Guardian was the only media present in court to hear evidence against the couple on Tuesday.

Prosecuting, Trevor Parry-Jones said: “It’s a residential area. The properties seem to be well maintained and are not run down. It’s perhaps not an area where one might anticipate these activities taking place.

“Police were conscious of the fact that there were a tremendous number of Romanian individuals, particularly girls, who were using premises for the purpose of prostitution.

“The house was rented from an individual in Warrington who was aware that they were going to be used for prostitution according to the defendant. Because the house was going to be used for prostitution the rent was increased.”

The house was ‘sparsely furnished’ with only beds inside and when police raided in February, Curteanu was found sitting in the back garden while Barbieru and the victim were inside.

Mr Parry-Jones said: “Curteanu said that he could have run away if he wanted to because the officer arresting him was a woman.

“The victim revealed that she had been provided with various clothing, lingerie and that sort of thing. There was precious little in the property that could be described as usual clothing.”

The victim had arrived from Romania expecting to work as a prostitute and split the profits with the defendants.

She saw six or seven clients a day at first, with Barbieru also working as a prostitute and Curteanu working as a ‘pimp’, but the victim received no money.

The defendants advertised the business on a website.

Mr Parry-Jones added: “The victim did not feel that she could leave.

“This operation involved quite a bit of money. Money seems to have been transferred out of the country as soon as possible.”

Defending Barbieru, Jeremey Rawson said: “She came here by herself but didn’t make a success of her occupation. She came back with Curteanu who helped her set up a website and advertising. She expected to gain from her own work rather than the victim’s work.

“Funds were sent home to her father.

“She was in the same boat as the victim, she made very little out of this. She will be returning to Romania.”

Defending Curteanu, Martine Snowdon said: “He has a family and a child in Romania. He is unable to work there and has worked as a security guard in night clubs in other countries.

“He only came here following Barbieru to be with her because he believed at the time she was pregnant.

“The victim never made efforts or asked to leave. We have one worker working not excessively over a short period of time, the co-accused was working a far greater amount.

“He now wishes to go back to Romania.”

Judge Alan Conrad said: “This is a man of mature years controlling a woman who is half his age. The victim, a young woman of 20, was used by both of you.”

Curteanu was jailed for two-and-a-half years and Barbieru was handed a two-year sentence.

To read more about their first court appearance click here.