A Portuguese dominatrix who ran an international sex-trafficking and prostitution racket, earning over £100,000 in the process, has been made to repay just £1 to the public purse.

Fabiana De Souza, 43, and her English husband Gareth Derby, 55, were jailed for a combined 10 years in February last year after they were caught trafficking sex workers from Brazil and Portugal and running a brothel in Harrogate, where many of the sex workers were based after being flown in from abroad. 

Jessica Strange, prosecuting at today’s financial confiscation hearing at Leeds Crown Court, said that De Souza, who was excused attendance at court, had made £136,484 from the human-trafficking plot but had just £1 available in her accounts. 

She said the prosecution’s financial investigator found that she had no hidden assets. 

Derby, who appeared via video link from Moorland prison, had made profits of £28,288 and had £1,045 in cash or assets available. 

Mr Recorder R Ward ordered him to pay £1,045 into the public purse but De Souza was ordered to pay a solitary pound.

The former dominatrix was given one month to pay or face a further four weeks in prison. The former sex worker is due to be deported from the UK when she’s released from jail.

De Souza’s barrister Michael Fullerton said she was due to be deported on August 21.

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He claimed that some of her financial gains during the trafficking racket were from her work as a beautician and in the fitness industry. 

He said this money was “not…earned by her as a dominatrix with her own website during that period”.

Women treated like ‘commodities’

During the trial at the same court in December 2021, the jury heard that De Souza and Derby, from Norfolk, had been “flying in” sex workers from Europe and South America.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC said the couple treated the women like “commodities” as they made massive sums from their illicit trade.

De Souza, who provided dominatrix services to people in Harrogate, was said to be the ringleader of the “large-scale commercial operation” in which she and Derby, a high-earning engineer and machine specialist, flew in sex workers from Brazil and Portugal, paid for their flights and met them at airports, before sending them to sex dens where men paid for “massages” and “full (sex) services”.

They had exploited the “vulnerable” women for “significant” financial gain by “controlling (their) finances (and) choice of clients”, said Mr Lumley.

The prostitutes were put at a “significant financial disadvantage” and forced to lie to police to avoid detection.   

De Souza and Derby, who ran the lucrative business from their home in East Anglia, were arrested in August 2018 and charged with controlling prostitution for financial gain and human trafficking. 

They each denied the charges, but the jury found them guilty on both counts following a 10-day trial.

The charges related to six named women who worked at the Harrogate brothel and two properties in Norfolk between April 2017 and August 2018.

Mr Lumley said De Souza rented a two-bed flat in Harrogate town centre through a letting agency “so it could be used for sex…which would be advertised on the internet by these two defendants”.

De Souza and Derby would pay for sex adverts within hours of picking the women up from airports around the country and would “set them up” at the flat on Bower Road. 

The adverts were placed on escort websites and included descriptions of the women. 

They took the bookings and “made the arrangements (with the clients)” who would pay various amounts – from £80 for half an hour to over £1,000 for an overnight stay.

Thousands in bank transfers

Between May 2017 and August 2018, some £38,000 cash was deposited into De Souza’s bank accounts at branches in Harrogate and Norfolk. About £9,000 of bank transfers were then made to accounts in Brazil and Portugal using a money-services bureau. 

Mr Lumley said one woman was flown in on an EasyJet flight from Amsterdam and was picked up by the couple who had driven from Norfolk in a 4×4 pick-up. Derby also drove a Mercedes. 

They would arrange for a train ticket to be available at the airport as they moved the women around the country “or put them on a bus and sent them up to Harrogate or somewhere else”.

Following her arrest, De Souza, who is serving her sentence at a women’s prison in Peterborough, told police she had left her husband in September 2017 with the intention of divorcing him and moved to Harrogate “where no-one knew me”.

She had rented the Bower Road flat for over £700 a month and let rooms out to “others”, some of whom were “friends from Portugal”.

Derby said only that he had an “inkling that Fabia worked at the Harrogate flat as a dominatrix”.

In a text sent to a friend in January 2018, he boasted of being a “smuggler of women”.

Police trawled through the accounts of De Souza and her husband and found they had spent “thousands on air fares” and over £2,000 on adverts alone.

An undercover officer posed as a client to make appointments for the brothel on Bower Road. De Souza would answer the calls in “broken English” and arrange the appointment.

The officer was offered a “range of services”. On his first visit, dressed in civilian clothes, he was met by a sex worker named ‘Lisa’ who buzzed him into the flats above shops. 

De Souza and Derby, of Town Street, Upwell, south-west Norfolk, were each jailed for five years in February 2022. 

A Portuguese dominatrix who ran an international sex-trafficking and prostitution racket is to be deported from the UK.

Fabiana De Souza, 43, and her English husband Gareth Derby, 55, were jailed for a combined 10 years in February last year after they were caught running a sex den in Harrogate, where many of the sex workers were based after being flown in from abroad.

Today they appeared at Leeds Crown Court for a financial-confiscation hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act. These proceedings will determine how much the former couple has to pay back for their mega-money trafficking scheme, which involved sex workers from Portugal and Brazil.

Defence barrister Michael Fullerton said full analysis of the defendants’ assets and finances had not yet been completed and De Souza had yet to provide her own statements.

He said the defence would be contesting the undisclosed sum being sought by the prosecution.

Mr Fullerton asked for an adjournment in the proceedings to allow time for De Souza to serve the statement but asked for a postponed date no later than August 21 when she would be deported from the country.

He said Derby’s defence team also needed more time to ascertain the value of a car belonging to him which appeared to have ended up in Portugal.

He claimed some of De Souza’s financial gains during the offending period were from her work as a beautician and in the fitness industry.

He said this money was “not…earned by her as a dominatrix with her own website during that period”.

Mr Fullerton claimed that De Souza’s involvement in trafficking six sex workers from abroad was for a “limited period” only.

He claimed Derby had transferred some of the money into De Souza’s account and she had received some legitimately from a family member.

‘Flying in’ sex workers

During their trial at the same court in December 2021, the jury heard that De Souza and Derby, from Norfolk, had been “flying in” sex workers from Europe and South America.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley KC said the couple treated the women like “commodities” as they made massive sums from their illicit trade.

De Souza, who provided dominatrix and discipline services to punters in Harrogate, was said to be the ringleader of the “large-scale commercial operation” in which she and Derby, a high-earning engineer and machine specialist, flew in sex workers from Brazil and Portugal, paid for their flights and met them at airports, before whisking them off to sex dens where men paid for “massages” and “full (sex) services”.

They had exploited the “vulnerable” women for “significant” financial gain by “controlling (their) finances (and) choice of clients”.

The sex workers were put at a “significant financial disadvantage” and forced to lie to police to avoid detection.

De Souza and Derby, who ran the lucrative business from their home in East Anglia, were arrested in August 2018 and charged with controlling prostitution for financial gain and human trafficking. They each denied the charges, but the jury found them guilty on both counts following a 10-day trial.

The charges related to six named women who worked at the Harrogate sex den and two properties in Norfolk between April 2017 and August 2018.

Bower Road brothel

Mr Lumley said De Souza rented a two-bed flat in Harrogate town centre through a letting agency “so it could be used for sex…which would be advertised on the internet by these two defendants”. He added:

“There was another (rented) flat in Norfolk put to similar use and when that became unavailable, even the home of these defendants was converted for use by sex workers.

“As soon as the (prostitutes) arrived here, they would be installed in the flat in Harrogate or elsewhere, always with the purpose of being available for sex.”

De Souza and Derby would pay for sex adverts within hours of picking the women up from airport around the country and “setting them up” at the flat on Bower Road in Harrogate. The adverts were placed on the classified escort websites Viva Street and Adult Work.

Bower Street in Harrogate

They took the bookings and “made the arrangements (with the clients)” who would pay various amounts – from £80 for half an hour to over £1,000 for an overnight stay.

The money usually ended up in De Souza’s Halifax, Bank of Scotland and NatWest bank accounts, but on occasions “cash simply changed hands, handed by the sex workers to one of these two”.

Between May 2017 and August 2018, some £38,000 cash was deposited into De Souza’s bank accounts at branches in Harrogate and Norfolk. About £9,000 of bank transfers were then made to accounts in Brazil and Portugal using a money-services bureau.

Mr Lumley said one woman was flown in on an EasyJet flight from Amsterdam and was picked up by the couple who had driven from Norfolk in a 4×4 pick-up. Derby also drove a Mercedes.

They would arrange for a train ticket to be available at the airport as they moved the women around the country “or put them on a bus and sent them up to Harrogate or somewhere else”.

Undercover officer

Following her arrest, De Souza, who is serving her sentence at a women’s prison in Peterborough, told police she had left her husband in September 2017 with the intention of divorcing him and moved to Harrogate “where no-one knew me”.

She had rented the Bower Road flat for over £700 a month and let rooms out to “others”, some of whom were “friends from Portugal”.

Derby said only that he had an “inkling that Fabia worked at the Harrogate flat as a dominatrix”.

In a text sent to a friend in January 2018, he boasted of being a “smuggler of women”.

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Police trawled through the bank accounts of De Souza and her husband and found they had spent “thousands on air fares” and over £2,000 on Viva Street adverts alone.

An undercover officer posed as a client to make appointments for the sex den on Bower Road. De Souza would answer the calls in “broken English” and arrange the appointment.

The officer was offered a “range of services”. On his first visit, dressed in civilian clothes, he was met by a sex worker named ‘Lisa’ who buzzed him into the flats above shops.

He made “numerous” such visits to other women after responding to adverts including one for a “Hot Brazilian, full service”. She was about 57 years old but was advertised as 33.

De Souza and Derby, of Town Street, Upwell, in south-west Norfolk, were each jailed for five years in February 2022. They are still serving those sentences in different parts of the country and had to be transported to Leeds for the confiscation hearing.

Judge Mr Stubbs KC adjourned for a further hearing on June 27 when the case might be resolved but is likely to go to a contested, half-day hearing on July 28, when the prosecution and defence will set out their cases for a greater or lesser financial settlement based on the defendants’ assets and finances.

A Portuguese dominatrix and her English husband have been found guilty of running a sex-trafficking and prostitution racket in Harrogate after “flying in” women from Europe and South America.

Fabiana De Souza, 41, and Gareth Derby, 53, from Norfolk, flew sex workers in from Brazil and Portugal, paid for their flights and met them at airports, before whisking them off to flats where men paid women for “massages” and “full (sex) services”, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley QC said De Souza rented a two-bed flat in Harrogate town centre through a letting agency “so it could be used for sex…which would be advertised on the internet by these two defendants”. Mr Lumley added:

“It was run as a business by these two, controlled invariably from their home in Norfolk and the pair of them were in it together.

“The provision of sexual services provided by them was not confined to Harrogate (which) was an extension of an existing business.

“There was another flat in Norfolk put to similar use and when that became unavailable, even the home of these defendants was converted for use by sex workers. The labour force came from overseas, from countries such as Brazil, and they got here by air and their travel in and out of the country was invariably organised and paid for by these two defendants.

“As soon as the (sex workers) arrived here, they would be installed in the flat in Harrogate or elsewhere, always with the purpose of being available for sex.”

The couple, of Town Street in the village of Upwell, Norfolk, each denied one count of people-trafficking and another of controlling prostitution for financial gain. The charges related to six named women who worked at the Harrogate sex den between April and the end of August 2017.

They were found guilty on both counts on Monday following a 10-day trial.

Bower Road flat

Mr Lumley said that at least one other woman was prostituted in other parts of the country, including King’s Lynn in Norfolk and Birmingham, but they were not part of the charges.

De Souza and Derby would pay for sex adverts within hours of picking the women up from the airport and “setting them up” at the flat on Bower Road. The adverts were placed on the classified escorts websites Viva Street and Adult Work and included raunchy descriptions of the women.

They took the bookings and “made the arrangements (with the clients)” who would pay various amounts – from £80 for half an hour to over £1,000 for an overnight stay. Mr Lumley said:

“The defendants would receive their cut.”

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The money, described as “significant cash deposits”, usually ended up in De Souza’s Halifax bank account, but on occasions “cash simply changed hands, handed by the sex workers to one of these two”.

Mr Lumley said one woman was flown in from Amsterdam and was picked up by the couple who had driven from Norfolk in a 4×4 pick-up. Derby also drove a Mercedes.

Police were tracking the couple’s movements, including their journeys between Harrogate and Norfolk using number-plate recognition cameras.

An undercover officer searched the escort sites and called the phone number provided on the women’s sex profiles, pretending to be a client. The call went through to De Souza’s mobile phone in King’s Lynn.

She answered in “broken English”, claiming to be ‘Lisa’, and an “appointment” was made for the Harrogate flat.

Mr Lumley said the couple “often met the flights at the airport or arranged for a train ticket to be available at the airport as they moved these women around the country or put them on a bus and sent them up to Harrogate or somewhere else”.

Harrogate flat rented for £700 a month

Following her arrest, De Souza told police she had left her husband in September 2017 with the intention of divorcing him and moved to Harrogate “where no-one knew me”.

She said she rented the Bower Road flat for over £700 a month and let rooms out to “others”, some of whom were “friends from Portugal”.

She said it was “none of my business what (the women) were doing, as long as they paid (their) rent”.

She claimed that in May 2018, she reconciled with her husband and moved back to Norfolk, to a property in Walpole St Andrew.

Derby said he only had an “inkling that Fabia worked at the Harrogate flat as a dominatrix”.

Mr Lumley said that photos of the women – which were often false and whose profiles made out they were much younger than their true ages – were posted with the ads.

The women arrived at various airports including Manchester, Gatwick and Stansted. Mr Lumley said:

“They are flown in, spend two or three weeks in the country and then flown out again.”

In a text sent to an associate in January 2018, Derby boasted of being a “smuggler of women”.

One advert showed a “Latina” woman who said her services included “tantric massage, role play and fantasy”.

The undercover officer made an “appointment” and went to the Harrogate flat as a ‘client’, dressed in civilian clothes and with female back-up officers waiting outside.

Once inside the flat, he showed the woman his warrant card. She showed him a Brazilian ID card, but her responses were “not entirely honest”.

£40,000 in five months

Police trawled through the bank accounts of De Souza and her husband and found they had spent “thousands on air fares” and over £2,000 on Viva Street adverts alone. Mr Lumley said:

“Who knows how much cash simply changed hands?”

He added that £40,000 appeared in the couple’s bank accounts during the five-month prostitution racket in Harrogate alone.

The undercover cop said that on his first visit to the building on Bower Road, the sex worker named ‘Lisa’ buzzed him into the flats which were above shops. He was met by a woman in a “revealing” short-length dressing gown who said she had also worked as a stripper.

He made “numerous” such visits to other women after responding to adverts including one for a “Hot Brazilian, full service”. She was about 57 years’ old but was advertised as 33.

He said there was another woman in her 50s inside the flat who was also a sex worker. She said she was from the “Republic of Portugal” but was born in Brazil. She had been earning about £280 per day.

Michael Fullerton, for De Souza, said there was no dispute that she was working as a dominatrix before and during the prostitution enterprise. She had previously worked as a stripper.

Richard Mohabir, for Derby, said his client was adamant that he “controlled nobody” and “didn’t know sex work or prostitution was going on”.

However, the jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on both defendants.

Judge Guy Kearle QC adjourned sentence until January 18. He granted both defendants bail until then.

A Portuguese dominatrix and her English husband ran a sex-trafficking and prostitution racket in Harrogate after “flying in” women from Europe and South America, it’s alleged.

Fabiana De Souza, 41, and Gareth Derby, 53, from Norfolk, flew prostitutes in from Brazil and Portugal, paid for their flights and met them at airports, before taking them to sex dens where men paid women for “massages” and “full (sex) services”, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley QC said De Souza rented a two-bed flat on Bower Road in Harrogate town centre through a letting agency “so it could be used for sex…which would be advertised on the internet by these two defendants”.

Mr Lumley added:

“It was run as a business by these two, controlled invariably from their home in Norfolk and the pair of them were in it together.

“The provision of sexual services provided by them was not confined to Harrogate (which) was an extension of an existing business.

“There was another flat in Norfolk put to similar use and when that became unavailable, even the home of these defendants was converted for use by sex workers. The labour force came from overseas, from countries such as Brazil, and they got here by air and their travel in and out of the country was invariably organised and paid for by these two defendants.”

“As soon as the (sex workers) arrived here, they would be installed in the flat in Harrogate or elsewhere, always with the purpose of being available for sex.”

The couple, of Town Street in Upwell, Norfolk, each deny two counts of people-trafficking and controlling prostitution for financial gain. The charges relate to six named women who worked at the Harrogate sex den between April and the end of August 2017.

Their trial began this week and is expected to last 10 days.

Sex workers flown in

The prosecution claimed that at least one other woman was engaged in sex work in other parts of the country, including King’s Lynn in Norfolk and Birmingham but they were not part of the charges.

Mr Lumley said De Souza and Derby would pay for sex adverts within hours of picking the women up from the airport and “setting them up” at the flat on Bower Road. The adverts were placed on the classified escorts websites Viva Street and Adult Work and included raunchy descriptions of the women.

De Souza and Derby took the bookings and “made the arrangements (with the clients)” who would pay various amounts – from £80 for half an hour to over £1,000 for an overnight stay. Mr Lumley said “the defendants would receive their cut”.

The money, described as “significant cash deposits”, usually ended up in De Souza’s bank account, but on occasions “cash simply changed hands, handed by the sex workers to one of these two”.

Mr Lumley said one woman was flown in from Amsterdam and picked up by the couple who had driven from Norfolk in a 4×4 pick-up. Derby also drove a Mercedes.

Her profile soon appeared on the Viva Street website, advertising her as ‘Lisa, stunning brunette’.

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Police were tracking the couple’s movements including their journeys between Harrogate and Norfolk using number-plate recognition cameras.

An undercover officer searched the escort sites and called the phone number provided on the women’s sex profiles, pretending to be a client. The call went through to De Souza’s mobile phone in King’s Lynn, said Mr Lumley.

She answered in “broken English”, claiming to be ‘Lisa’, and an “appointment” was made for the Harrogate flat, he added.

Mr Lumley told the jury how the couple “often met the flights at the airport or arranged for a train ticket to be available at the airport as they moved these women around the country or put them on a bus and sent them up to Harrogate or somewhere else”.

£700 a month Bower Road flat

Following her arrest, De Souza told police she had left her husband in September 2017 with the intention of divorcing him and moved to Harrogate “where no-one knew me”.

She said she rented the Bower Road flat for over £700 a month and let rooms out to “others”, some of whom were “friends from Portugal”.

She said it was “none of my business what (the women) were doing, as long as they paid (their) rent”.

She claimed that in May 2018, she reconciled with her husband and moved back to Norfolk, to a property in Walpole St Andrew.

Derby said he had an “inkling that Fabia worked at the Harrogate flat as a dominatrix” but that “she wasn’t the type of person who would pay for adverts or run such a business.”

Mr Lumley said that photos of the “naked or scantily-clad” women – which were often false and whose profiles made out they were much younger than their true ages – were posted with the ads.

The women arrived at various airports including Manchester, Gatwick and Stansted. Mr Lumley added:

“They are flown in, spend two or three weeks in the country and then flown out again.”

In a text sent to an associate in January 2018, Derby allegedly boasted of being a “smuggler of women”.

Undercover police operation in Harrogate

One advert showed a dark-haired “Latina” woman wearing just a thong. In the profile, she said her services included “tantric massage, role play and fantasy”.

The undercover officer made an “appointment” and went to the Harrogate flat as a ‘client’, dressed in civilian clothes and with female back-up officers waiting outside.

Once inside the flat, he showed the woman his warrant card. She showed him a Brazilian ID card, but her responses were said to be “not entirely honest”.

Police trawled through the bank accounts of De Souza and her husband and found they had spent “thousands on air fares” and over £2,000 on Viva Street adverts alone. Mr Lumley said;

“Who knows how much cash simply changed hands?”

He added, however, that £40,000 appeared in the couple’s bank accounts during the alleged five-month prostitution racket in Harrogate alone.

Earning £280 a day

Michael Fullerton, for De Souza, said there was no dispute that she was working as a dominatrix before and during the alleged prostitution enterprise. She had previously worked as a stripper.

“She says she was not controlling others (or) exploiting them, but there were a number of sex workers whom she had known…for a very long time,” he added.

Richard Mohabir, for Derby, said his client was adamant that he “controlled nobody” and “didn’t know sex work or prostitution was going on”.

The undercover cop said that on his first visit to the building on Bower Road, the sex worker named ‘Lisa’ buzzed him into the flats which were above shops. He was met by a woman in a dressing gown who said she said had also worked as a stripper.

He made “numerous” such visits to other women after responding to adverts including one for a woman who was about 57 years old but advertised as 33.

He said there was another woman in her 50s inside the flat who was also a sex worker. She said she was from the “Republic of Portugal” but was born in Brazil. She had been earning about £280 per day.

The trial continues.