Special constable and wife ‘ran sex ring in posh flats’
A SPECIAL constable and his Hungarian wife have gone on trial accused of flying in east Europeans to work as prostitutes in highend west London flats.
Karl Ring, 34, and Ivett Szuda, 32, are accused of using the money they made from their stable of sex workers to fund a luxury lifestyle involving designer clothes, gold jewellery and five-star holidays.
Ms Szuda, a mother of two, acted as the point of contact for Hungarian women who answered online adverts offering prostitution work.
The couple paid over £100,000 in rent for apartments in London, including one in the Chelsea Cloisters building on Sloane Avenue, owned by Christopher Moran, the property tycoon and Tory Party donor.
Referring to revelations over the weekend alleging that the building was a haven for prostitution, Judge Robin Johnson warned the jury at Isleworth Crown Court to focus on the evidence.
He told the jury: “I am told there has been some media coverage over the weekend as to Chelsea Cloisters. The story focused on a man who was a donor to a major party.
“You should ignore it. You should make your decisionmaking on what you hear in court.” The couple were accused of running a website called Kensington Angels advertising 100 prostitutes.
The women were told they could make up to £300 a day but had to split half their earnings with the couple. Ian Mcloughlin, prosecuting, said one of the girls had worked as a nanny for the couple, but had become a sex worker after her family in Hungary got into financial difficulties.
He said: “The women, by and large, have come voluntarily. However willing a particular individual concerned may have been, the moving of anyone into the UK if it’s found that you are going to control them in prostitution is an offence.”
Mr Ring was employed by the Met Police as a special constable from 2013 to 2015.
The couple, of Hanwell, west London, deny 12 counts of controlling prostitution for gain, four of trafficking for sexual exploitation and one of possessing criminal property. Ms Szuda alone denies three counts of arranging or facilitating travel with the view to exploitation.
The trial continues.