As she was sentenced this week, the boasting of a nasty female crime ring head who imported prostitutes into the UK and urged them to ‘look pretty’ in order to pay her lavish lifestyle was revealed.
Catalina Cojocaru, 37, and her partner Jamie Dunn, 42, enjoyed a lavish lifestyle while running a massive prostitution ring that exploited vulnerable women for sex and smuggled them into the UK illegally.
Meanwhile, her brother, who was also involved in the ring, has traveled to Thailand, North Africa, and the Dominican Republic on at least 12 different luxury vacations since the ring was set up.
Cojocaru was a key figure in forming a crime ring with Dunn in Northampton, which quickly expanded to Nottingham and Birmingham, generating £20,000 per month.
In January 17, police raided her Northampton house and discovered extensive proof of the plot and her important role in its planning.
She was in charge of the day-to-day operations, which included finding women, mostly from Romania, who wanted to work as sex workers in the UK and arranging their flights and transportation to a house of her choosing.
The women were subsequently compelled to work at brothels across the Midlands, where they were forced to engage in off-the-street prostitution.
Cojocaru allegedly told ladies to ‘look their best’ and told them to ‘look sexy’ and use make-up when they asked for semi-naked photos.
Cojocaru operated as the sex workers’ ‘boss,’ having daily contact with them and keeping records of daily takings, according to lists and text messages retrieved by police.
Between November 2015 and January 2017, the ladies were earning up to £1,640 each day, of which the gang stole 50% of each woman’s earnings.
‘F**k me, I’m fantastic,’ she wrote at the foot of her diary on one day when seven women made £900.
She would make the women work long hours in exchange for half of their profits, which she would use to fund her lavish lifestyle.
The group exploited up to 13 women at once and housed them in four distinct residences.
Dunn’s Facebook profile has photos of the pair vacationing at luxurious locations as recently as December 2021.
They stayed at The Montcalm Hotel in Marble Arch, London, right before Christmas, according to an image. The Montcalm Hotel is a luxury hotel with pricing starting at £562 per night for a double room at the time of publication.
During the same trip, the pair dined at Marco Pierre White’s Mr White’s restaurant in Leicester Square.
Marco Pierre White was the first chef in the United Kingdom to receive three Michelin stars.
The couple also dines at other high-end establishments, such as The Point at the Haven Hotel in Poole, where main courses run from £21 to £38.
Since their arrest, the couple has married and has two children.
Dunn’s Facebook page makes no mention of the crimes he and Catalina committed, but there are plenty of photos of the couple having fun in the sun.
‘Happy Birthday to my great wife, best friend, and the most patient mother on the earth,’ Dunn wrote on Cojocaru’s birthday, December 4 last year. Thank you for everything you do on a daily basis to keep our ship afloat.’
Cojocaru did this, prosecutor Ayanna Nelson told the court, ‘with the anticipation of considerably considerable financial advantage.’
‘You exploited the labor of others for great financial benefit, and the enterprise would have continued if it hadn’t been for police involvement,’ Cojocaru Judge Rebecca Crane said at the sentence hearing.
On Tuesday, Cojocaru was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison at Northampton Crown Court (June 14).
Dunn’s role in the prostitution ring included guaranteeing a “continuous supply” of women to work for him and his girlfriend, as well as posting internet advertisements – with over £11,000 spent on sexual services alone.
Dunn and Cojocaru were charged with trafficking women into the UK while living in the upscale village of Lower Harlestone, Northampton, where property values average £900,000.
They both admitted to arranging to organize or enable another person’s journey to the UK with the intent of exploiting them for prostitution.
Dunn was given a four-year and nine-month term.
The conspiracy also included Dunn’s 74-year-old father Martin Dunn and Cojocaru’s 26-year-old brother Andrei Cojocaru.
Dunn Snr paid for women’s flight tickets, assisted them in collecting them from airports, and even paid for hotels and serviced apartments.
Andrei Cojocaru’s responsibilities included answering the brothel phones, setting up meetings between customers and the ladies, directing them to the property, and picking up trafficked women from airports.
Andrei Cojocaru’s Facebook page depicts him jetting across the world, apparently spending his riches to support the trafficking network.
He has posted about luxury vacations to the Dominican Republic, Greece, Romania, Prague, Morocco (including camel rides across the Sahara Desert), a second vacation to Greece, London, Spain, Tenerife, a third vacation to Romania, Thailand, and Paris since the ring began in November 2015 – as well as visiting Romania just months before the trafficking and exploitation ring began.
Martin Dunn, of Northampton, was sentenced to a 12-month community order and 100 hours of unpaid community service after receiving a considerable sum of money from a house sale.
Andrei Cojocaru, also of Northampton, was sentenced to one year in prison with a 14-month suspension and 150 hours of unpaid community service for conspiring to regulate prostitution for profit.
The convictions were the first modern slavery and human trafficking charges brought by Northamptonshire Police as part of Operation Eton.
‘This was an extremely complicated and lengthy investigation, but I am very delighted that we were able to gain the force’s first charges under modern-day slavery legislation and obtain guilty verdicts for all four perpetrators,’ said Detective Inspector Carrie Powers.
‘This organized crime group preyed on vulnerable women by promising them a better life in the United Kingdom.’
‘Instead, they pushed girls to have intercourse with a big number of males while paying no attention to their rights or welfare.’
‘These ladies worked long hours only to have a major percentage of their money stolen by the gang and used to fund lavish lifestyles.
‘While investigating such crimes can be difficult, Northamptonshire Police is dedicated to ending modern slavery and bringing those who abuse vulnerable members of our community to justice.’