Romanian family ‘forced’ labourers to live in squalor while working as slaves in Britain
A ROMANIAN family forced labourers to live in squalor while working as slaves in Britain, a court heard. Valentin Lupu, 24, and relatives made £2.5million in profits over five years. They picked up victims in bars in their homeland and promised them a better life. Valentin’s father Viorel, 49, and mum Victorita, 51, withheld money […]
A ROMANIAN family forced labourers to live in squalor while working as slaves in Britain, a court heard.
Valentin Lupu, 24, and relatives made £2.5million in profits over five years.
They picked up victims in bars in their homeland and promised them a better life.
Valentin’s father Viorel, 49, and mum Victorita, 51, withheld money from the immigrants, who handed over their ID cards, jurors heard.
Blackfriars crown court heard cops found up to 31 men and women in a three-bed terraced house in Barking, East London.
If the building site workers raised objections they were beaten and threatened by enforcers Valentin and his brother Grigore, 39.
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One of their alleged victims told police Ionut Lupu, 25, the son of Toader Lupu, 45 and Violeta Lupu, 44, recruited him a bar in Romania.
He was later found wandering the streets by a Salvation Army volunteer, sparking the probe.
The defendants, from Dagenham, Ilford and Forest Gate, East London, deny forced labour charges. The trial continues.
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