Three members of a Gravesend gypsy gang have been jailed for a combined 16-and-a-half years - after trafficking vulnerable women to sell into sham marriages.

Roman Ziga, 26, known as "Romeo", his brother Jozef Ziga, 28, and Igor Boros, 43, were all sentenced at the Old Bailey this afternoon (November 24) - after being found guilty of conspiracy to traffic women for sexual exploitation.

The Slovakian nationals trafficked at least four poverty-stricken or mentally ill women from Kosice between January and May 2013.

Their ring was exposed after one of the women was brutally raped by the Pakistani man to whom she had just been "sold" in March 2013.

Three other gang members from Abbey Road in Gravesend - Tibor Suchy, 29, his wife Viktoria Sanova, 29, and his brother-in-law Rene Sana, 31, were jailed for a combined 14 years in December 2013.

This was after being found guilty of selling the original victim, who sought help whilst in hospital, to her Pakistani husband for £4,500.

They were later charged with trafficking the three other victims, along with the Ziga brothers and Boros, but admitted the charges before the 13-week trial began, and received further sentences today.

Sentencing the gang, Judge Michael Topolski QC described the business as “well organised, well established and widespread” and “a modern form of slavery”.

He said: “You must have calculated they would not have the courage to speak out and give evidence against you.

"If so, you seriously underestimated these extraordinarily courageous women.

“It is perfectly obvious that the impact upon these women and their lives by the conduct of the conspiracy has been profound and far reaching.”

In a victim impact statement read out in court during the sentencing, one of the trafficked women said: “Once I arrived in England, I became aware I was being sold.

"This caused me to become very frightened.

“I am scared of the dark, I constantly sleep with the light on.

"I repeatedly have to check the door is locked. I struggle to sleep at night and have regular nightmares.”

Today, both Ziga brothers were jailed for six-and-a-half years - after receiving four-year and two-and-a-half year jail terms, which will run consecutively.

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Their accomplice Boros was jailed for three-and-a-half years. He received two 21-month sentences, which will also run consecutively.

News Shopper: Tibor Suchy

Suchy (above) was sentenced to 34 months in prison and Sana to two years, whilst Sanova got a one-year sentence for her part in the scheme.

Suchy is already serving a 10-year sentence behind bars, and his new sentence will run concurrently to this.

Meanwhile Sana and Sanova's new sentences will be covered by time on remand.

News Shopper: Viktoria Sanova, of Abbey Road, Gravesend.

Sanova (above) has already been released from prison. She was originally sentenced to 16 months behind bars, and Sana to three years in jail.

During the trial, the Ziga brothers were exposed as recruiters of "desperate or destitute" women.

One 29-year-old women was recruited on the promise of fruit-picking work, then forced into prostitution in the UK and sold to an Indian man for £3,000 before making her escape.

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Another of the victims, 23, came from a good background but had some mental health issues, and fell into drugs.

When she arrived in the UK, her identity card was taken and she was passed to a Pakistani man to be his wife.

She too managed to run away and return home to Slovakia with help from her family.

The fourth victim was 29 and pregnant when she arrived in the UK, so efforts to marry her off or force her into prostitution failed.