Bulldog breeder accused of running a sex ring

Wing Yuen (pictured) is alleged to have helped run the escort agency that saw woman trafficked to the UK from Asia

A bulldog breeder ran a human trafficking gang that smuggled Asian women into the UK and forced them to work as £100-an-hour prostitutes in budget hotels around the country, a court heard.

Hong Chin, 45, managed Royal Esher Bulldogs on a country estate in Surrey while raking in profits from 18 sex workers staying in hotels around Gatwick Airport and the South East and South West, it is claimed.

Chin’s former partner Li Wei Gao, 44, allegedly helped to advertise women on ‘adultwork.com’ while she lived near his dog kennel business in Upper Court, Portsmouth Road, Esher.

Customers are said to have paid for sex with cash after the pair used false names to reserve hotel rooms for prostitutes they controlled in Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, Surrey, Dorset, Thames Valley and Cardiff.

The Old Bailey heard Chin’s associates Ting Li Lu, 47, and Wing Yeun, 41, helped to run the escort service between February 2013 and June 2015.

Chin, Gao and Lu are also accused of trafficking the women from China and South Korea and around the UK for ‘sexual exploitation’.

Prosecutor Dale Sullivan said: ‘The prosecution allege that those three defendants conspired to traffick females for sexual exploitation and they did that in two ways.

‘Firstly, by bringing girls in from outside the UK from China and Korea, but also once they were here they then moved them from point A to point B to C and so on and so forth.’

Ting Li Lu (pictured) is alleged to have helped run an escort agency. A court heard prostitutes were forced to work in budget hotels across the UK

Li Wei Gao (pictured) appeared at the Old Bailey accused of being part of an operation that saw women trafficked to the UK from Asia to be exploited

Ting Li Lu (left) is alleged to have helped run an escort agency alongside Li Wei Gao (right). A court heard prostitutes were forced to work in budget hotels across the UK

He continued: ‘Li Wei Gao lived at Upper Court, Portsmouth Road in Esher. The address is within a country estate comprising a large manor house and smaller properties including dog kennels.

‘Hong Chin ran that business.’

Jurors heard the defendants were charged after a human trafficking investigation called Operation Effect, which saw police identify 18 suspected sex workers staying in hotels including Holiday Inn and Airport Inn in Gatwick.

Mr Sullivan said just nine women were interviewed by police, and only five of them admitted being sex workers, despite being found in hotel rooms littered with used condoms and lubricants.

None of them referred to the defendants by the names they have given to the court, but they did refer to the aliases they allegedly used to book hotel rooms on Booking.com.

The court heard none of the suspected prostitutes provided police with written statements about their movements, working practices or finances.

Chin, of Dunstall, Burton-Upon-Trent, Wei Gao, now of Heathside, Oxshott, Lu, of Somers Road, Portsmouth, and Yeun, of Palace Square, south east London, each deny one count of conspiracy to control prostitution for gain.

Chin, Gao and Lu also deny two counts of conspiracy to traffic for sexual exploitation.

The trial continues. 

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