Jailed for 20 years: The slave trader in Britain who sold women around Europe for sex under the spell of his 'juju' witchcraft

A sex trafficker who used African witchcraft rituals to silence young girls smuggled into Britain to be sold on as prostitutes has been jailed for 20 years.

Osezua Osolase, 42, preyed on poverty-stricken Nigerian orphans and tricked them into travelling to the UK with the promise of a better life.

But instead the Nigerian treated the victims as "commodities" to be used in a form of "modern-day slavery" by attempting to send them on to mainland Europe to be sexually assaulted by gangs.

West African juju rituals were used to instil terror into Osolase's three vulnerable victims, one aged just 14, who felt helpless because they feared retribution and had no-one to turn to.

At Canterbury Crown Court on Friday, he was found guilty of five counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation, and one each of rape and sexual activity with a child.

Sentencing him today, Judge Adele Williams told Osolase, a recycling worker from Beaumont Drive, Gravesend, Kent, that he was "devoid of conscience, devoid of compassion to your victims".

Osolase, who has HIV, showed no emotion as sentence was passed.

Judge Williams told him he put his victims "in fear" by using juju rituals to force their obedience and secure their silence.

She said he was responsible for a "cruel deception" by promising the girls, one of whom lived under a bridge in Nigeria, a better standard of life in the UK.

The judge said: "You were dealing in exploitation and manipulation and degradation. You have been convicted on clear and compelling evidence."

She went on: "I have seen and heard you give evidence and you are undoubtedly a very, very dishonest man. You are arrogant and manipulative, you are devoid of conscience, devoid of any compassion to your victims."

The judge said Osolase treated the girls as "objects" to be sold as "sex slaves". And she said the fact that he raped one girl knowing he has HIV was a "seriously aggravating" feature.

It was recommended that Osolase be deported once he has served his sentence.

Detectives revealed that one 16-year-old girl described how a juju ceremony performed on her in Nigeria involved her having samples of blood extracted.

Hair from her head and intimate parts were also cut and she was made to swear an oath of silence and smuggled into Britain before an unsuccessful attempt was made to farm her out to Italy.

Witchcraft rituals are sometimes used by Nigerian traffickers to force victims into obedience or compel them to pay back vast sums of money.

A senior detective said Osolase corrupted the well-established belief of juju in an attempt to "gain control and bend the wills" of his young victims.

During the six-week trial, Osolase, nicknamed "Uncle", refused to admit trafficking the teenagers, forcing them to relive the crimes in front of a jury.

Some of the girls had travelled to Britain with dreams of gaining modelling work or a better education, but prosecutors said they instead endured "heartless abuse" at every turn.

Police believe there were at least 25 suspected victims of the trafficking ring, which smuggled girls using fake passports and visas from Nigeria and into the UK and on to countries including Italy and Spain.

Investigators said the case was difficult to bring to court because human trafficking victims often fear retribution against themselves and their families back home.

Their experience of authorities in their home country often leaves them lacking confidence in the justice system but British officials said the girls were courageous in giving evidence.

Painstaking inquiries were conducted on a mass of data from pre-paid credit cards, email addresses, flight records and mobile phones to prove Osolase was involved in smuggling the girls to Britain.

He was stopped at Stansted Airport in Essex in April last year, leading inquiries by the UK Border Agency to then be passed to the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

Investigations revealed that he was the prime suspect in multiple human trafficking offences where girls had been flown from Nigeria to the UK before being sent out to Europe.

In mitigation, Anthony Orchard QC, defending, said Osolase suffers from glaucoma, rendering him 90% blind in one eye.

He also said Osolase disclosed that he had HIV voluntarily to police, and that his German wife has stood by him throughout the trial process.

Mr Orchard said: "Mr Osolase acknowledges and regrets the consequences of his actions in relation to taking the girls out of the UK, and he has to bear the consequences of those actions."

PA