Prostitution gang face jail for virginity sale plot

9/14/2010 4:38:25 PM

Four members of a child prostitution ring, including two from north west London, are facing jail after they attempted to sell the virginity of young girls to wealthy Arab businessmen for up to Â£150,000.

The gang were caught in an undercover Scotland Yard sting after offering their services in a hand-written letter to the owner of the Jumeirah Carlton Hotel in Knightsbridge, central London.

A police officer contacted the gang by telephone posing as a potential client and was told they could provide girls from Iran, England and Eastern Europe aged between 14 and 20 for sex.

Mother-of-four Mahrookh Jamali, 41, of north west London, met the officer at the Lancaster London hotel, in Bayswater Road, and said some of her girls were virgins who could be "broken" by the client.

Dozens of emails were exchanged over the next fortnight, some including pictures of a 14-year-old girl who police believe was used as "bait" for a potential paedophile customer. A second meeting was arranged and Jamali said she would bring up to five girls to London, including two 13-year-olds, and said she would expect between Â£50,000 and Â£150,000 for each girl.

The next day, September 30 last year, Jamali went to the hotel accompanied by Fatima Hagnegat, 24, who had travelled from her home in Wigan, Lancashire, with six girls, two of whom were aged 14 and 17. The pair were arrested by police and the victims said they were driven down to earn money "dancing" for a party of rich men. They only found out they may be asked to have sex with the men when they arrived.

Police searched Hagnegat's home and arrested her husband Rasoul Gholampour, 30. A third woman, Sara Bordbar, 43, of north west London, who provided a flat to be used as a base, was also arrested.

Details of the case were disclosed by police after the four pleaded guilty at Harrow Crown Court on Monday.

Jamali, Bordbar, Hagnegat and Gholampour pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic six women aged between 17 and 22 from the North West to London between July and October last year for sexual exploitation. The three women defendants, Jamali, Hagnegat and Bordbar, who wept throughout the hearing, also admitted conspiracy to incite prostitution for gain between the same dates.

The judge ordered the charge to lie on file for Gholampour. A third charge of conspiracy to arrange the prostitution of children will lie on file of all four defendants.