Following an investigation by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), a GLAA statement reveals ringleader Alexander Goran (above left) recruited the workers from Romania with the promise of employment and accommodation.

Once workers were in the UK, he controlled their wages, directed them to live in cramped, sub-standard housing, and even gave some of them false identities so they could work two separate shifts at a food processing factory in Greater Manchester.

Goran was supported by his wife, Ana Marie (above right), who was also sentenced for her role in the exploitation.

The pair were arrested and questioned following a multi-agency day of action in March 2018, titled Operation Brewer, which resulted in victims removed from the properties and taken to a reception centre to be safeguarded.

The couple, both Romanian nationals, left the UK but were arrested by Spanish authorities in Valencia this August after a European Arrest Warrant was issued. They were subsequently taken back to the UK by Merseyside Police and appeared before Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Friday 30 August 2019.

Alexander Goran, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to acting as an unlicensed gangmaster and conspiring to commit fraud by abuse of position. Appearing before Liverpool Crown Court yesterday [3 December], he was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Ana Marie Goran, also of no fixed address, admitted an offence of aiding and abetting an unlicensed gangmaster. She was jailed for 15 months at the same hearing.

Sentencing, Judge Sophie McKone described the exploitation as “sophisticated and well-organised offending”.

She added: “You exploited people that you brought into the country. These people had come to the country for legitimate work and are entitled to protection from the law.”

The convictions follow sentences being handed out to the Gorans’ accomplices Josh Beesley and Christopher Beech in July 2019. Beesley, of Lockerbie Place, Wigan, was jailed for 20 months for aiding and abetting an unlicensed gangmaster and conspiring to commit fraud by abuse of position.

Beech, of Lilac Court, Congleton, was handed an eight-month sentence suspended for 18 months and community order for the same gangmaster offence.

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