Vice accused 'collected takings'

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A former policeman facing prostitution charges was arrested at a ferry port with two Chinese women who claimed to be in great fear, a court has heard.

Simon Dempsey, 39, of East Street, Newtownards, denies human trafficking and controlling prostitution.

At a bail hearing on Tuesday, it was alleged Mr Dempsey visited brothels to collect takings - which he then banked - and to deliver food and towels.

Lord Justice Coghlin refused the bail application at the High Court.

The accused, who left the PSNI in 2004 and now works in Iraq for a Dubai-based risk management company, was stopped at the Stena HSS Port in Belfast on 18 May.

The court was told how the two women discovered at the docks were debriefed by police and claimed to be in great fear.

One said she had been working as a babysitter in London and answered an advertisement in the Chinese business press for careers as a nanny based in Belfast.

Jobs paying £220 a week were said to be on offer, with both girls travelling to Northern Ireland before allegedly being taken to different addresses and put to work as prostitutes.

It also goes some way to keeping the trafficked victims disorientated and unaware of their surroundings Prosecuting barrister

A prosecuting barrister said the same phone number they contacted was used for adverts in a tabloid newspaper advertising brothels.

She said the two women were paid £20 whenever Mr Dempsey's co-accused, 32-year-old Chen Rong, "was in a good mood on her weekly visit".

The barrister added that inquiries with the UK Human Trafficking Centre have identified a 'chicken run' system being operated throughout the UK and Northern Ireland.

"This system involves the movement of prostitutes between brothels every week so that punters are experiencing new prostitutes and do not become bored with the same females on a weekly basis," Mrs Smith said.

"It also goes some way to keeping the trafficked victims disorientated and unaware of their surroundings."

One of those interviewed by police said she had been with up to seven clients a day while working at an address in south Belfast.

A defence barrister argued that Dempsey had been duped by his co-accused, and claimed she had been the one issuing the threats.