Police Appeal For Sex Trafficker Florin Radu, Two Years After He Failed To Show At Court

Appeal Launched To Find Sex Trafficker On The Loose - Two Years After He Fled

Police have launched an appeal for a human sex trafficker of no fixed abode almost two years after he failed to show at court after being granted bail.

Florin Radu was convicted in his absence of human trafficking, controlling prostitution for gain and assault at Minshull Street Crown Court in October 2015, but has been missing since March 2014.

The 30-year-old was arrested at Luton Airport on March 6 of that year and later bailed to re-appear in court for trial - but he never turned up.

Police on Wednesday launched an appeal for the "predator", conceding he "truly could be anywhere".

Police are hunting human trafficker Florin Radu who has been missing since March 2014 after failing to return to court after being bailed

Greater Manchester Police said that sometime in August 2013 a 23-year-old woman came to the UK from Romania believing that she would be starting work as a waitress.

Shortly after arriving in the UK the woman was introduced through a friend she travelled with, to Radu, in Dudley.

Over the following months, police said, the victim was moved around a number of residential addresses and hotels in the Midlands and North West of England – including the Fallowfield, Oldham and Wigan areas of Greater Manchester – where she was forced to prostitute herself.

Radu took all of her earnings, police said, and any time she refused to engage in sexuality activity he beat her.

While at an address in Oldham, in November 2013, the victim managed to escape and flag down a passing police car. She then recalled her "horrific ordeal" to officers.

Police said Radu is believed to have links across the West Midlands, specifically the Dudley, Wolverhapton and Coventry areas, as well as Luton and areas across Greater Manchester.

Detective Constable Simon Hurdley of the Greater Manchester Police Sexual Crime Unit said: “We have been trying to trace Radu for some time and have exhausted all methods and so I would now like to ask for the public’s help to find him.

“He is a predator who preyed on a vulnerable woman who believed that she was coming to the UK for a better life before he got hold of her and made her life a misery, putting her through one horrific ordeal after another.

“We know he has links across the West Midlands and Greater Manchester as some other areas such as Luton so he truly could be anywhere."

Anyone with information about Radu's whereabouts is asked to contact police.

Close

What's Hot