Couple jailed over sex-slave empire they ran from their Leeds home
A couple that trafficked women from Europe and forced them into sex slavery have been locked up.
Four defendants received jail sentences totalling more than 27 years years at Leeds Crown Court this afternoon, following a lengthy and painstaking operation by detectives stretching back a decade.
Polish nationals Wieslaw Michniewicz and Aleksandra Timoszek, who were married and lived in Leeds, invited young women to the UK with the promise of legitimate work, but were then put to work as prostitutes.
The devious couple lived a lavish lifestyle on the profits, driving expensive sports cars, the court heard.
Detectives had launched Operation Laggenend in July 2016 after West Yorkshire Police received information in an anonymous letter, later established to be from one of the victims.
Michniewicz and Timoszek, who lived on Willow Avenue, Burley, targeted vulnerable women predominantly living in Poland.
The victims were told they would have jobs as childminders or in local bars or shops. Others believed they were travelling to the UK to start a romantic relationship with Michniewicz.
Their travel was paid for and they were offered accommodation at the couple’s address.
When the victims arrived in the UK, they were told they now had a debt to pay off and were forced into sex work.
Threats were made to the victims and against their families in Poland, including threats to shame them in their communities as sex workers.
The women were forced to work up to 20 hours a day, seven days a week providing sexual services.
All the money earned was then handed directly to Michniewicz and Timoszek.
Enquiries by officers showed that the pair had been assisted by Michniewicz’s cousin Mariusz Seretny, who was living at Grange Close, Hunslet.
Evidence linked him to travel bookings, advertisements on sex work websites and money transfers out of the UK.
His wife Marta Seretny, also of Grange Close, Hunslet, was found to have had a supporting role in the prostitution of the women.
Officers arrested 53-year-old Michniewicz and 32-year-old Timoszek at their home address on September 14, 2016, on suspicion of offences relating to modern slavery.
Several women were found at the address.
Items recovered from the property included £16,000 in cash, mobile phones and handwritten ledgers detailing the earnings and debt for each of the women under the couple’s control.
Three luxury sports cars – a Porsche Panamera, a Porsche Carrera and an Audi R8 – were also seized from the couple.
Mariusz and Marta Seretny were also subsequently arrested, and the four - who had all been in the UK legitimately at the time off the offences - were later released on bail while enquiries continued.
The investigation identified 14 victims, aged between 17 and 31, who had been targeted.
Women considered unsuitable on arrival in the UK and were sent back to Poland, and another had become suspicious and refused to travel to the UK.
The youngest was brought to the UK while only 17 and was put to work in a brothel the day after her 18th birthday.
Key evidence included social media communication, with more than 1,000 pages of content secured and translated from Polish into English, travel bookings and documents for flights and ferry crossings that brought the victims to the UK, mobile phones with thousands of messages, images and videos recovered, including the victims’ passport details.
An analysis of handwritten ledgers recovered from a safe showed that prostitution of the 11 victims had generated about £170,000, with details of the sizeable debts each victim faced.
Receipts from the Willow Avenue address showed large sums of money being transferred out of the country, and CCTV footage from the house showing the victims being driven off by Michniewicz and Timoszek on a daily basis.
Throughout the investigation, detectives maintained contact with the victims, many of whom returned to Poland following the arrests of Michniewicz and Timoszek.
The investigation team sought the assistance of the Polish authorities and, through a joint investigation team facilitated by Europol, were able to safeguard and support the victims in Poland and use specially trained officers to secure their evidence.
The four defendants were charge with modern slavery and controlling prostitution offences in February 2023, but both Michniewicz and Timoszek fled the country.
The pair were traced by officers and extradited back to the UK and remanded in custody until their trial, which began at Leeds Crown Court in November 2025.
The jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts against all four defendants on December 18.
Michniewicz, Timoszek and Mariusz Seretny were each convicted of conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the travel of another person with a view to exploitation, conspiracy to incite another person to become a prostitute for gain, conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and two counts of controlling prostitution for gain in relation to two individual victims.
Marta Seretny was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to control prostitution for gain.
Today, they were sentenced for those offences.
Michniewicz was sentenced to 15 years’ jail, with Timoszek, given a term of seven-and-a-half years.
Mariusz Seretny, 45, was jailed for five years and 41-year-old Marta Seretny was sentenced to a 12-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work and five rehabilitation days.
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent Helen Steele said: “These four were involved in an organised criminal enterprise that cruelly targeted vulnerable women and preyed on their hopes of a better life with legitimate employment in the UK.
“Instead, the victims found themselves being controlled and forced into sex work where they were relentlessly exploited and treated purely as commodities to make money from.
“The victims have each suffered harrowing experiences and have been left understandably traumatised by the ordeals they were put through. We hope that it will help them in some way to know that those responsible have now been brought to justice.
“Modern slavery offences are truly abhorrent, and we remain absolutely committed to doing everything we can to target those involved.
“This is a crime that is often hidden in plain sight, and we would urge members of the public to report any suspicions they have that this type of exploitation is taking place to us immediately.”
Information can be reported to West Yorkshire Police via 101, to the Modern Slavery Helpline anonymously on 08000 121 700 or on the Modern Slavery Helpline or to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.