Suspended jail sentence for Canklow brothel keeper

Shane Booth (29, pictured), of Canklow Road, Canklow, was the manager of the Pandora’s brothel in Attercliffe, Sheffield, and arranged for the woman to work there in October 2017.

Booth went on trial last Friday alongside Sorina Cretu (23), of Attercliffe Road, Sheffield, who worked as a receptionist at the brothel.

They both initially denied controlling prostitution for gain but changed their pleas to guilty on the second day of their trial.

Mr Ian Goldsack, prosecuting, told the court, their victim, then aged 18, had come to the UK from Romania in October 2017 to work at a Milton Keynes branch of the Papa John’s pizza chain.

She had travelled to Britain with Nicolae Ionita, another Romanian, who had also secured work at the takeaway.

After coming to the UK together they were put in accommodation paid for by the pizza chain.

But Nicolae Ionita and his sister, Claudia Ionita, who were jailed for 21 months in September for causing and inciting prostitution for gain, arranged to move the woman to Middlesbrough and, against her wishes, sold her for sex.

The woman had sex with between two and eight clients a day, Mr Goldsack said.

The Ionitas controlled her and kept the vast majority of the money she made from clients.

Claudia Ionita then contacted Cretu, whom she had worked with at Pandora’s massage parlour in Attercliffe.

“Arrangements were made for Sorina and Shane Booth, the manager, to collect [the woman] and Claudia and take them back to Pandora’s to start work,” Mr Goldsack said.

The woman was expected to provide sexual services to clients and had been seeing around ten each day, he added.

“She [The woman] refused to work to begin with but was threatened and assaulted and felt she had no choice but to go along with it,” said Mr Goldsack.

“She was scared.

“[The woman] did not get to keep the bulk of the money she was earning.

“This continued until November, when she informed people back in Romania what was happening to her.

“With their encouragement and support, she left that house [where she lived] and sought help at a nearby petrol station.”

The woman was taken into the care of police and, days later, Pandora’s was raided by officers.

Cretu and Booth were both given nine-month jail sentences which were suspended for 12 months.

They denied charges of arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation and these offences were ordered to lie on file.