The ringleader of a Romanian grooming gang was offered £1,500 to be deported while in prison awaiting trial for ten rapes, it was claimed today.
Marian Cumpanasoiu, 38, led a group who groomed, drugged and raped vulnerable women in Dundee.
After being plied with alcohol and drugs, they were forced to take part in degrading ‘sex games’ inside dinghy flats and pimped out to paying clients.
Despite the seriousness of his offences, Cumpanasoiu was handed a ‘voluntary return form’ in August 2024 while in jail awaiting trial, Sky News reports.
The scheme encourages foreign criminals and illegal migrants to return to their home country in return for a payment.
Cumpanasoiu had ‘expressed a desire to return home’ on the scheme but the plan was later blocked, the report states.
He went on to be given a 24-year extended sentence for sexual and trafficking offences.
In a further twist revealed at his sentencing, it emerged that Cumpanasoiu’s right to remain in the UK – which had been due to expire – had been automatically renewed.
This was done under the EU settlement scheme, which automatically extends pre-settled status for anyone already on the scheme after five years.
His status has now been revoked and he is set to be deported after leaving prison.
Rape Crisis Scotland has expressed concern about the Home Office’s dealings with Cumpanasoiu, who prosecutors described as a ‘winking, smiling pimp’.
A spokesperson for the charity said: ‘This was a horrific case, which involved numerous vulnerable survivors who showed tremendous strength and courage by coming forward to seek justice for what had happened to them.
‘The severity of this case has, quite rightly, resulted in significant prison sentences for the perpetrators. However, it is not clear why the Home Office tried to intervene before a trial had begun, and any verdict had been reached.
‘Survivors must have faith in the criminal justice process and its ability to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes.
‘This incident raises questions about what the Home Office’s intentions were, and why it was able to insert itself into active criminal proceedings in the first place.’
Cumpanasoiu was jailed alongside four associates, Christian Urlateanu, 41, Alexandra Bugonea, 35, Remus Stan 35, and Cataline Dobre, 45.
The group targeted women aged between 16 and 30 from 2021 and 2022.
Police Scotland’s investigation uncovered the gang’s activities during an operation focusing on the trafficking of women to Dundee from eastern Europe to work as prostitutes.
But officers also found that vulnerable women from the local area were also being groomed with gifts, crack cocaine and whisky.
One victim was forced into prostitution after Cumpanasoiu and Stan set up a profile of her on a website and drove her to meet men to have sex with.
She later said she was sold a ‘pipe dream’ of how she could make ‘lots of money’ from selling her body, but Cumpanasoiu became angry when she did not earn enough.
A video was found on his phone recording the victim climbing a tree, with Cumpanasoiu threatening: ‘Because you do not make money, you stay all day in the tree.’
The case is the latest in the number of grooming gang trials still being prosecuted across the UK.
Last month, five men from Romania and Albania were found guilty of serious sex offences including rape against six teenagers in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.
Some of the victims were vulnerable and felt beholden to the older men – four of whom are from Romania and one from Albania – who bought them cigarettes and alcohol in exchange for sexual favours
Weeks before, an Asian grooming gang operating in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, were jailed for a total of 174 years after two white schoolgirls were raped as they were used as ‘sex slaves’ from the age of 13.
Sentencing the Dundee gang, Judge Lord Scott stated that a number of the group ‘deflected and minimised’ their offending. They now face deportation back to Romania after serving their sentences.
He said: ‘Over a 15-month period each of you participated in the serious sexual abuse and exploitation of vulnerable and mostly young women in the Dundee area.
‘There were various reasons for their vulnerability including difficult family circumstances and use of drugs.
‘By offering them an unending supply of mostly free crack cocaine you exacerbated their vulnerabilities and proceeded to exploit them for your own sexual gratification and in some cases for financial gain.’
Jurors previously heard harrowing testimony about how the gang preyed on their vulnerable victims, most of whom were already troubled by personal issues.
There were said to be so many young women ‘passing through’ that the gang struggled to remember who they all were.
He was also convicted of a charge under the Human Trafficking Act, by forcing a woman into prostitution, and two charges of brothel keeping.
Meanwhile, Stan was found guilty of four rapes and Dobre found guilty of two rapes. Alexandra Bugonea was convicted of one rape and illegal sexual activity with another.
There was also grim testimony of how Urlateanu, Stan and Dobre gang-raped one woman. She was preyed upon having gone to a ‘party’ at a flat in Dundee.
This victim recalled being given a substance which made her feel ‘rotten’ before being attacked by the trio.
His KC Gillian Ross put to him: ‘How do you feel about these allegations being made?’
Urlateanu: ‘Very scared and very much afraid of all of this.’
He was convicted of nine charges including the rape of four women and illegal sexual activity with another.
In her evidence, Bugonea admitted having ‘sex parties’ at her flat describing them as a ‘fun atmosphere’.
Quizzed about sexually assaulting any of the victims, Bugonea said: ‘I am a woman – why would I have a plan to rape her?’
She also denied women only visited due to their drug issues claiming she believed they were ‘friends’.
Bugoena said: ‘Even now, I cannot believe that they would put me in this position.’
She branded other evidence heard in the trial as ‘ridiculous’.
The crimes she was convicted of included being part of the rape of one woman and illegal sexual activity with another.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘This man will serve his sentence for the abhorrent crimes he committed and will be considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity.
‘A deportation order will automatically trigger the revocation of an individual’s right to be in the UK, including pre-settled status.’
