THE head of a family-run sex trafficking operation has been jailed for five years and 10 months.

Hungarian national Alex Breier, 41, forced three young women into a life of prostitution, slavery and servitude after he arranged for them to be transported from Europe to Manchester.

The victims were then taken to numerous properties owned by different members of the family including addresses in Blackburn and Bolton.

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They were also forced to upload their pictures to a website from which customers could choose which girl they wanted, be given a specific address to attend, be shown in through a secluded entrance and taken upstairs where they paid the Breier family.

One of the women became a sex slave at the age of 15 in her native Hungary and was introduced to violent bully Breier who flew her to Holland to work as a prostitute before later being moved to Germany and Belgium.

Breier brought her to Manchester in 2012 when she was just 18, along with a second woman.

They and a third victim went on to work over a 15-month period at properties Wellfiled Road and Fecitt Brow, both in Blackburn and properties in Bolton.

In return the girls, two aged 18 and one aged 19, received basic food, shelter and cannabis, said police.

Their ordeal ended shortly after one of the men who used the website had befriended one of the girls who confided in him about violence meted out by Breier.

The friend convinced her to go the police last March which led to a complex multi-agency investigation.

Breier, of Wolfenden Street, Bolton, was sentenced at Bolton Crown Court today after he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to three counts of trafficking women into the UK for the purposes of prostitution and three counts of trafficking within the UK for the purposes of prostitution.

His wife Alexne Breier, 43, was given a nine-month sentence suspended for 12 months after she admitted conspiracy to keep a brothel used for prostitution.

The couple’s son, Kristian, 22, of Fecitt Brow, Blackburn, received the same sentence after he too pleaded guilty to conspiracy to keep a brothel used for prostitution, while their daughter, Csabane Androvics, 24, of Rawsthorne Street, Bolton, was jailed for six months, suspended for 12 months, after committing the same offence.

Alex Breier’s sister, Katalin Bogdan, 39, of Croston Street, Bolton, was given a 12-month conditional discharge after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to keep a brothel used for prostitution.

Following sentencing, Det Ch Insp Rick Jackson, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “I want to paint a damning picture of exactly what Alex Breier is really like.

“For three years he forced women into a penniless life of sexual slavery and servitude. He would beat these women if they did not obey him, controlling them physically and psychologically to the point where they felt powerless to free themselves from his violent grip.

“It is that power, that control, that makes it possible for young women to be trafficked into the UK and prostituted against their will.

“One incident really sticks in my mind. At one point, Breier told the girls he would report them to police for working as a prostitute if they did not obey him. It may seem astonishing but such was their fear and insecurity that this ‘threat’ had the desired effect.

“What makes this even more galling is that the entire family conspired together to control the lives of these girls. I can’t begin to imagine what a nightmare existence they lived through, virtually destitute, repeatedly beaten and living day-to-day in fear.

“However, eventually one of the girls had the courage to speak up and as a result, police in Bolton, assisted by numerous agencies across Europe, have exposed this family for who they really are. I would like to personally commend her for her bravery after years of living in fear. Her bravery cannot be overstated.

“This was an extremely complex investigation which took us all over Europe and brought together the National Crime Agency, the National Referral Mechanism Human Trafficking Europol and enforcement agencies in Germany, Holland and Belgium. Those involved in human trafficking often use multiple locations to avoid detection, but thanks to the dedication and sheer tenacity of the officers involved, this family has been brought to justice.”