Family Of Roma Gypsies Jailed For Brutal Exploitation Of Trafficked Fellow-Poles

Ana Gil & Dawid Gil

A family of Roma gypsies, who tricked three fellow-Poles into moving to London, where they were ruthlessly exploited and subjected to brutal beatings and their national insurance numbers used to rip-off the benefits system, were jailed today.

One female victim, 31, was constantly sexually molested and forced to shoplift and beg with her two children and her husband, 32, and another man had to collect scrap metal for up to twenty hours per day and hand all their money over to the family.

The family are: Ana Gill, 48, who received three years and her boyfriend, former jailbird, Jan Majewski, 49, a prolific offender in his homeland, who received four years, both of High Road, Romford.

Her four son's: Wladyslaw Gil, 33, of Budock Court, Budock Drive, Ilford; Dawid Gil, 31, and Mateusz Gil, 20, both of Field Road, Forest Gate and Fabien Gil, 28, and his wife Bogumila Mirga, 30, both of Salisbury Road, Forest Gate.

The Recorder of Croydon Warwick McKinnon told them: "After each arrived their identity documents were confiscated, violence was routinely deployed, they were in bonded labour and the single male was made to break into unoccupied houses.

Jan Majewski & Wladyslaw Gil

"You used his identity to claim tax credits and to make bank loans and the woman was barely allowed out of the house and was made to go begging and shoplifting, her children were made to steal and their id's were used to obtain tax credits.

"They were threatened with violence and they had witnessed beatings being meted out and the victim impact statements reveal the devastating effect on all three."

The single male was left with "permanent physical and psychological damage" as a result of beatings inflicted by Wladyslaw.

"The violence you perpetrated was without mercy, it was extreme and as routine as it was relentless and callous and sadistic, causing long-term damage," the judge told him.

Wladyslaw was sentenced to ten years imprisonment; Dawid two years; Mateusz twenty-one months; Fabien five years and Bogumila three years.

The Polish couple and their two children were brought to the UK and kept under the control of professional shoplifter and father-of-five Fabien Gil, the court was told.

Mateusz Gil

While the husband was sent to work at a banana-packing plant in Stanstead and surrender 70% of his wages his wife and two children were kept locked in a room for a year.

When that job ended he was forced to collect scrap metal and hand all the proceeds over, purportedly in exchange for food and lodging.

Prosecutor Mr. Tim Hunter told Croydon Crown Court: "Fabien and Ana Gil threatened to beat up the children and Mateusz Gil - then aged fifteen years-old - also subjected the woman to repeated sexual assaults.

"He would follow her into the bathroom and pester her for sex. He would grab her breasts, buttocks and vagina both above and beneath her clothing."

Judge McKinnon told Mateusz: "Fifteen years-old or not what you did was to engage in a systematic course of sexual harassment and assault over several weeks. She was seen as an object of commercial and sexual exploitation." 

The family escaped after the husband got Fabien Gil drunk one night, snatched his identity documents from the defendant's wallet, and fled to Wales.

They later told the police of Majewski: "He was the brains behind the operation….The boss of the whole family."

Bogumila Mirga & Fabien Gil

The couple had seen another Pole under the control of the family, Robert Wylezol, 41, who also came from the town of Nysa, near the Czech border and was used to break into squats for the defendants.

"He worked twenty hours a day collecting scrap metal in a pram and Fabien Gil kept all the proceeds and he was told to work or there would be no food.

"He received daily beatings from Wladyslaw Gil and on one occasion was beaten unconscious and suffered fractured ribs," added Mr. Hunter.

"The victim was also beaten with a metal pipe and urinated blood for a week and after escaping for one night and sleeping in a park was beaten unconscious, with ribs broken on both sides."

The jury were told the severity of the beatings were influenced by the amount of money Mr. Wylezol made for the family and he was kept under their control by threats to kill his son and family living in Poland.

He was moved to illiterate heavy-drinking father-of-three Wladyslaw's new address in Ilford, where he slept in a locked storage room with no bed, until he escaped and slept rough for four months until assisted by a charity.

Convicted thief and fraudster Wladyslaw was convicted of trafficking Robert Wylezol into the UK for exploitation and along with father-of-three Dawid and Fabien was also found guilty of conspiring to traffick the same victim within the UK for exploitation.

Fabien was convicted of trafficking the couple into the UK for exploitation and Mirga was found guilty of an identical charge in relation to just the wife.  

Wladyslaw, Fabien and Jan Majewski were convicted of conspiring to traffick the husband within the UK for exploitation. 

All three, plus Mirga and Ana were found guilty of the same offence in relation to the wife..

Wladyslaw Gil was convicted of four counts of actual bodily harm against Mr. Wylezol and Mateusz Gil convicted of four counts of sexual assault against the wife.

They had all pleaded not guilty to the charges, which date from January 1, 2009 until September 30, 2010.