Two members of a gang which tricked women into prostitution have been jailed.

HUMAN trafficking takes advantage of people trying to make a better life for themselves with devastating consequences.

Leonard Llanaj, 19, of Cricklade Road, Swindon, and girlfriend Lisa Benjamin, 25, were part of an international racket which duped two young Lithuanians into coming to England on the promise of a legitimate job and a better life, a court heard.

But now the pair are starting lengthy jail terms.

Their victims, aged 18 and 21, thought they were being set up with jobs in pubs or bars.

When they arrived at Heathrow Airport, however, they were "sold"' to traffickers for thousands of pounds and driven to a secret location.

After the case, Jenni Manners, the manager of the Swindon's Women's Refuge, said: "The crime is horrendous. To bring vulnerable women from another country into this country and use them for prostitution is awful."

Det Inspector Paul Jennings, of Swindon police, said: "With human trafficking people are engaged in organised crime snaring unsuspecting women or children, into false promises of job opportunities."

Sentencing Llanaj to 11 years in prison Judge Phillip Head told him he was corrupt and criminal beyond his years. The judge also recommended that he is deported to Macedonia once his sentence is served.

Benjamin, a prostitute herself, of Oliver Street, Coventry, was previously convicted of the same charges, plus a second count of incitement of prostitution.

Her sentencing to seven years in jail at Derby Crown Court last December could not be reported until now for legal reasons.

The two defendants allegedly imported the women from Lithuania to earn money from them as prostitutes between July and September 18 2004.

Benjamin and Llanaj denied the charges but the jury found him guilty of two counts of controlling prostitution for gain, two counts of trafficking within the UK, and one count of causing incitement of prostitution.

Nirmal Shant, prosecuting, told the jury both women had been targeted in their homeland by other gang members.

Giving evidence in court, the 21-year-old victim told how her passport was taken away by gang members and she was driven by her buyers from the capital to an undisclosed address in Swindon.

Here, she said, she was raped by one of the men and held captive for two weeks. During that time, she met the two defendants.

Llanaj drove the victims to massage parlours in Bristol, Swindon and Leeds. It was Benjamin's job to make sure they did as they were told and hand over their takings.

The scam was uncovered when one of the women refused to go with a client and confided in the massage parlour's owner.