‘Madame Sandra,’ UK-based Nigerian nurse convicted for sex trafficking, to refund over N140m.
A London-based Nigerian nurse currently serving an 18-year prison term for trafficking Nigerian women to Europe and forcing them into sex work has been ordered to hand over almost £184,000.
Josephine Iyamu, 54, was the first Nigerian-British national to be convicted under the Modern Slavery Act for offences committed overseas, in a landmark prosecution led by the UK’s National Crime Agency in 2018.
Iyamu was handed a confiscation order totalling £183,806.06 at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday 4 March.
The confiscation amount considered her available assets, which include a large house in Benin City, Nigeria, where she employed household staff.
If she fails to pay the full sum within three months, she will serve an additional two years in prison and still be liable for the money.
NCA Senior Investigating Officer, Kay Mellor, said:
“Josephine Iyamu specifically targeted vulnerable women and put them through the most horrific experience, only to profit considerably from their misery.
“Iyamu’s expenditure on travel and properties far outweighed her legitimate earnings as a nurse and our investigation into her finances proved she made hundreds of thousands of pounds from her criminality.
“Confiscation orders are a key tool which provide us with the capability to really hit criminals where it hurts – in the pocket.
“Iyamu was calculated, manipulative and motivated by money. Not only is she serving a hefty prison sentence, but she won’t be living a luxury lifestyle when she comes out.”
The NCA’s investigation into Iyamu began in July 2017 following information from the German Police who had identified one of her victims working in a brothel in Trier…Click on the link below to read the complete piece
