Human trafficker who lured women from Thailand and forced them into sex trade jailed

A human trafficker who lured women from Thailand and exploited them by forcing them into the sex trade has been jailed for nine years.

A judge told Manachaya Wanitthanawet: “I have concluded no sentence is appropriate other than imprisonment. That is because of the very serious nature of the charges.”

Lord Scott told the 40-year-old Thai national at the High Court in Edinburgh that she was clearly “an intelligent person” as shown by her degree in business and economics, but unfortunately she chose to use her skills in the crimes against two young women who found themselves trapped into prostitution in a foreign country, thousands of miles from their families.

Her former partner and client Cameron Wilson, 30, who laundered almost £150,000 from the crime scheme was jailed for 21 months after the judge rejected a plea to impose a non-custodial sentence on him.

The pair, who were latterly sharing an address in Yeovil, in Somerset, had denied a series of charges at the High Court in Dundee.

The earlier trial of the pair heard that AirBnB properties in Dundee and across Scotland were used as brothels for the women to meet clients with victims serving up to 15 men a day to pay off debts.

Wanitthanawet made contact with victims and arranged for them to travel from Thailand to Scotland. They were originally asked to work at a massage parlour but were exploited as sex workers after being told they owed £90,000.

One woman told the court that her fellow Thai had promised her “no less than £2,500” a month to work as a masseuse, but was put up in a studio flat and told to offer sex to clients.

She said she was asked to pay £35,000 to Wanitthanawet for helping her come to the UK in 2019 but that figure later doubled. The woman said she felt like her “hands were tied”.

She said: “In my heart, I wanted to escape from that situation, but I had no money, no passport and spoke no English, so then I cry.”

Wanitthanawet created online adverts for the sex work and prostitution took place at venues in Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness and Newcastle.

A police raid in December 2020 on a flat in Dundee’s Gardner Street where Wanitthanawet and Wilson resided recovered £3,800 in cash, bank cards belonging to Wilson and electronic devices with one containing messages relating to arrangements for a sexual encounter.

Wanitthanawet was convicted of recruiting and transporting the women, featuring them in adverts for sexual services and forcing them into prostitution between July 2019 and July 2022.

She was also found guilty of exercising control over them and aiding and abetting their prostitution.

Wilson was found guilty of transferring, concealing and converting criminal cash through bank accounts.

Defence solicitor advocate Kris Gilmartin, for Wanitthanawet, said the first offender achieved a degree in business and worked as a production manager before arriving in the UK. He said that after arriving in Britain she willingly became involved in sex work.

He said: “She does not and has not at any point suggested she was a victim of human trafficking.”

Mr Gilmartin said that in a report prepared on her she accepted she did exploit the women and told them that they had a debt and it had to be paid.

He told the court he did not oppose a Crown motion to impose a trafficking and exploitation order on her. He said: “Given the length of sentence which will be imposed it is inevitable that deportation will follow. She will have to return to Thailand to start again.”

Solicitor advocate Iain Paterson KC argued that Wilson’s case could be dealt with by the imposition of a community payback order with unpaid work and supervision requirements.

He said: “His emotions and his relationship with the co-accused brought him into a situation where he turned a blind eye to what was going on.”

Lord Scott made a five-year human trafficking prevention order on Wanitthanawet.