A gang of traffickers have been jailed for conspiring to traffic women into the UK for sexual exploitation.

The four men and one woman trafficked more than hundred women into the UK from Hungary by promising them a more prosperous life but instead many were forced into prostitution and raped.

Following the five month trial at Croydon Crown Court, the group was sentenced to a combined total of 36 years behind bars at the same court on Tuesday.

Ringleader Vishal Chaudhary, 35, of Park View Gardens, Hendon, was jailed for 12 years, Krisztian Abel, 33, of Green Lane, Ilford, for 10 years, Attila Kovacs, 33, of Barnet was given six years, Kunal Chaudhary, 32, of Manchester got five years and Hungarian national Szilvia Abel, 24, was sentenced to three years.

The gang had booked flights for at least 120 women, mostly from Hungary, who were delivered to brothels in Barnet, Camden, Waltham Forest, Haringey, Tower Hamlets, Islington, Enfield and other areas.

Most women had responded to adverts believed to be administrative, cleaning and babysitting jobs but were instead forced or coerced into prostitution, with many being made to have sex with up to 20 men a day.

The women were being controlled by the gang using threats of violence and intimidation, and had their passports taken in order to exert further control over them.

Hungarian national Abel acted as an enforcer and threatened and abused the girls if they did not do as they were told.

In one case, he forced a victim in her 20s to carry out sex acts with clients which left her with serious injuries, as punishment after she discovered the address of the brothel where she was being held.

Chaudhary had lived a plush lifestyle in a penthouse apartment in Canary Wharf and drove a Mercedes convertible up until his arrest on January 30.

Detective Sergeant Alan Clark, of the Trafficking and Kidnap Unit, said: "Many of the victims have been deeply traumatised by what this gang did to them, and displayed signs of severe distress when they told us what had happened to them.

"One victim's graphic account actually brought the interpreter to tears."