Conspiracy Solicitors represented one of five co-defendants in a large scale Human Trafficking and Money Laundering prosecution. The offences were alleged to have taken place between 2007 and 2013.
Operation “A” was a two-year investigation conducted by West Yorkshire Police into a Slovakian organized crime group, principally a family by the name of Cisar.
It was alleged by the prosecution that the defendants trafficked fellow Slovakians who had hit upon hard times into the UK and thereafter exploited them. It was alleged that they would set them to work for a pittance, make Benefits claims in their names and control their bank accounts.
Solicitors Stuart Wild and Simon Cobb meticulously trawled through thousands of pages of evidence in preparation for the trial.
The case came to trial at Leeds Crown Court in September 2017. However, owing to non-disclosure by the CPS of substantial material that should have been made available to the defence, the trial was halted after seven weeks and a re-trial ordered.
This delay allowed the Police and CPS further time to investigate and charge three more members of the Cisar family.
Accordingly, when the re-trial started in June 2018, there were now eight defendants.
After a trial lasting ten weeks, all defendants were convicted of trafficking offences.
All defendants received custodial sentences, ranging from 9 years down to 18 months.