Romanian nationals jailed after rape and kidnap of Slough girl

The group were today jailed for almost four decades after the girl, who was nine years old when she was brought to the UK in 2015, suffered “unimaginable” and “incomprehensible” sexual abuse.

Reading Crown Court heard heartbreaking testimony from the now-teenage girl as revealed her struggles in being able to tell people about her horrific past. 

The bulk of the abuse was inflicted by a 59-year-old man -- who we can’t name due to a court ruling -- as he raped her from an early age at their Slough address. 

Her terrible abuse culminated in a secondary school boy being arrested after she pinned the blame for one incident of rape on a classmate following threats from the man. 

After being raped again in late 2020, the girl escaped the home through a window and ran across live train tracks at Slough train station to evade the man and a 39-year-old woman, who was also central in her years-long abuse. 

Yet just four months later, the girl was kidnapped by three Romanian men in Crowthorne before police were able to find her and bring her to safety. 

Her Honour Judge Campbell, sentencing, said: “The facts of this case are unimaginable and incomprehensible to any normal human being and one can only imagine the trauma the victim must have suffered. 

“She can’t even begin to describe her history to new people. She finds it difficult to form trusting relationships. This will be the case for many years to come.”

The judge said the girl was brought to the UK aged nine to assist with childcare. 

Addressing the 59-year-old defendant, the judge added: “I do not think she was brought here for the purpose of having sex, but you took the opportunity to do so as she got older.”

Her first year in England was ‘relatively unremarkable’, the court heard, but in 2016 the 59-year-old locked her door and raped her, telling her not to scream. 

The man told her that if her period was late she should blame one of her male schoolfriends for raping her. 

The girl did this and police arrested a Year Seven boy, but the allegation was later dropped. 

“The fact she made such an allegation which resulted in the arrest is an extremely serious feature of this case”, Judge Campbell said. 

The 59-year-old raped the girl ‘repeatedly’ in the years that followed, including in the man’s van and in her own home, Reading Crown Court heard.

When she was older, a short video circulated on social media of the girl being raped by two boys.

The 59-year-old’s reaction was to laugh at her before he assaulted the girl. 

Reading Crown Court heard how the man punched and kicked the girl and attacked her with a “heavy” weapon, fracturing a bone in her finger. 

The 39-year-old woman, whose identity has also been anonymised following a court order, was present during the attack and encouraged the man. 

She slapped the girl herself three times and asked the man why he had stopped when he ceased assaulting her. 

In late 2020, the girl eventually escaped the Slough home through a window. 

This came on the same day that the 59-year-old raped her for the final time -- an incident which occurred in front of young children. 

“The fact you were able to rape her so brazenly demonstrated your power over her”, Judge Campbell said. 

The girl made her way to Slough train station where she waited for several hours. 

“So desperate was her desire to escape that she ran across live train tracks and was later found by policing looking terrified and without her shoes”, Judge Campbell told the court. 

She was taken into foster care in November 2020 but it was only in January 2021 that she told police about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of the 59-year-old man. 

Police interviewed the 59-year-old man and the 39-year-old woman following these allegations. 

It was then that a plot to kidnap the girl was hatched by the man and the woman. 

They recruited Nutel-Virgil Papadache, 40, of Celandrive Drive, Greenwich, Alexandru Olateanu, 20, of Austen Close, London, and Marius Bucur, 19, of no fixed abode, for this venture. 

Marius Bucur

Reading Crown Court heard how Papadache was set to be paid £2,000 for his leading role in organising the kidnap. 

Bucur contacted the girl via social media and befriended her as the group knew she would be feeling “isolated” in care, the court heard. 

In late February 2021, the group met in South-East London before picking the girl up in Crowthorne and driving her to Sheffield.

She was with the group for 38 hours before police were able to locate her and take her away from the group. 

The court heard how she was treated well by the group over this short period. 

“That makes it all the sadder because she didn’t realise her liberty was being restrained”, Judge Campbell said. 

“No doubt the plan was to return her to [the 59-year-old] man.”

Speaking further about the kidnap plot, the judge added: “The intention was to ensure there was no prosecution of the serious [sexual abuse] matters, which may have been achieved by violence and control had she been brought back to him.”
 
In a heartbreaking victim impact statement read by prosecutor Madeleine Wolfe, the girl said: “I feel relief that I’m away from them and happy I can start a normal life. 

“I’m trying to work on leaving the past in the past but that is not as easy as it seems. 

“I don’t know what it is I am feeling. I have never known what feelings are or what they mean. 

“I can’t make friends properly and I struggle to form relationships. 

“When people get close I feel like they will hurt me so I push them away and I end up hurting them. 

“I think this is because I have never been shown love. 

“I don’t know how to explain any of it.”

Her Honour Judge Campbell sentenced the group as follows: 

• The 59-year-old man, of London, was handed a 24-year prison sentence for one count of rape of a girl under 13, five counts of rape, one count of grievous bodily harm, and one count of kidnap. He will serve 15 years of this sentence before he is eligible for release on licence. 
• The 39-year-old woman, of London, was given six years and six months in prison for one count of GBH and one count of kidnap. She will serve half before release. 
• Marius Bukur was handed a two year, six-month prison sentence for kidnap. He will serve half before release. 
• Nutel-Virgil Papadache was handed a four-year prison sentence for kidnap. He will serve half before release. 
• Alexandru Olteanu was handed a two year, six-month prison sentence for kidnap. He will serve half before release. 

The group were sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Thursday, April 28. 

A sixth defendant, Aurelia Stan, of Celandine Drive, Greenwich, will be sentenced next month for kidnap.