Child Sexual Exploitation Ring: 22 arrested, Amanda Spencer found guilty of running child sex ring in Sheffield, Prostitute raped, tortured, crucified in Italy, serial killer. speculation that the murder could have been a ritual killing

- Child Sexual Exploitation Ring: 22 arrested
- Amanda Spencer found guilty of running child sex ring in Sheffield
- Prostitute raped, tortured, crucified in Italy; case mirrors 2013 attack
- Italy: Florence gripped by fear as police hunt serial killer "speculation that the murder could have been a ritual killing"

CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION RING: 22 arrested
By Folkestone Herald   May 07, 2014

POLICE have arrested 22 people in connection with an investigation into child sexual exploitation across the UK.

Officers carried out a series of early morning raids at addresses in Kent, the Midlands and Yorkshire, in an operation focused on an organised criminal network believed to be involved with the sexual exploitation of young girls from the Slovakian Roma community, in Margate, Folkestone, Dover and Gravesend.

Chief Superintendent Alison Roden of Kent Police, who has been co-ordinating the operation, said: ‘We have arrested a number of people across the country as part of an ongoing investigation into child exploitation offences.

‘This is part of an in-depth investigation and today’s operation is a response to reports from the community and intelligence gathered about allegations of child exploitation in Margate, Dover, Folkestone and Gravesend. Arrests have also been made in Leeds and Birmingham.

‘The protection of children and vulnerable young victims is a key priority for Kent Police and our partner agencies....
http://www.folkestoneherald.co.uk/Police/story-21067808-detail/story.html 

Amanda Spencer found guilty of running child sex ring in Sheffield
Kashmira Gander Author Biography
Friday 02 May 2014

A woman from Sheffield has been found guilty of running a child sex ring, after she reportedly coaxed “weak and vulnerable” underage girls into prostitution using drugs and alcohol.

23-year-old Amanda Spencer was found guilty of 16 counts relating to child prostitution at Sheffield Crown Court on 1 May.

On Friday, the jury was discharged after failing to reach a verdict on 14 remaining charges, according BBC News.

She was cleared of seven charges including arranging or facilitating child prostitution, intentionally causing or inciting a person to become a prostitute, and one count of trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation.

Spencer ran the ring between 2006 and 2011, and made girls have sex with men, both at her own flat, and at other homes across South Yorkshire.

During the trial which lasted over two months, Prosecutor Michelle Colborne QC told the court that Spencer supplied the girls with alcohol and drugs and “when [they were] weak, introduced them to a life of prostitution,” according to BBC News.

"She hung around the town centre identifying and befriending vulnerable children.

“She made them feel loved, she gave them a shoulder to cry on, a friend who purported to understand whatever sadness they were experiencing in their lives and in turn lured them into a life of abuse, which she exploited and profited from.”....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/amanda-spencer-found-guilty-of-running-child-sex-ring-in-sheffield-9318958.html


Amanda Spencer trial: 'Grotesque' abuse of Sheffield child sex ring victims  6 May 2014
A victim of child sex ring leader Amanda Spencer has described the shocking physical and psychological brutality she used to trap vulnerable girls in a life of prostitution.

Spencer, 23, from Sheffield, has been convicted of 16 charges relating to child prostitution after jurors heard her victims were controlled using drugs, alcohol and violence.

She was just 16 when she began befriending her victims - some as young as 13 - and forcing them to have sex for cash.

One girl, who had been sleeping rough in the city's Abbeyfield Park, told Sheffield Crown Court she thought Spencer would protect her but was left fearing for her life when she was locked in a room where seven men paid to abuse her....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-27290220 


Prostitute raped, tortured, crucified in Italy; case mirrors 2013 attack
Romanian immigrant Andrea Cristina Zamfir was found dead Monday morning, her wrists taped to an overpass in Florence. Authorities say the 26-year-old's murder is similar to the near murder of 46-year-old Alle Bartoline, who was found naked and screaming, her wrists taped to the same barrier.

BY Meg Wagner  NEW YORK DAILY NEWS  Wednesday, May 7, 2014

talian police are hunting for a monstrous serial attacker who raped and tortured a prostitute in Florence before "crucifying" her naked body on a bridge.

The brutal killing mirrors another attack on the same overpass last March.

Police found the body of Romanian immigrant Andrea Cristina Zamfir on Monday morning. The 26-year-old had been forced to kneel with her outstretched arms taped to a horizontal barrier under the bridge, Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.

Police said she had been sexually tortured before she was left to die, and bruising showed she struggled throughout the horrific assault, police say. Her clothes and purse were found about a half-mile away....

During the past 10 years, six or seven more prostitutes have been killed in the area, Florence investigator Lorenzo Bucossi told the Daily Beast....
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/prostitute-raped-tortured-crucified-italy-article-1.1783067

Italy: Florence gripped by fear as police hunt serial killer
gbtimes Italy, Milan
Wednesday, May 7, 2014

A mysterious homicide is reviving painful memories in Florence after the body of a prostitute was found under a bridge on Monday. Andrea Cristina Zamfir, 26, a Romanian national, was strapped to a bar, tortured and left to die slowly, her wrists tied in a crucifixion-like pose.

There is “a real possibility that a new serial killer is on a rampage,” ANSA news agency writes, quoting sources close to the investigation. According to the Italian press, six other attacks on women over the past 8 years bear resemblance to this latest incident, but only this one ended in the victim's death.

There are similarities between the killings in the choice of the victims, who are all drug-addicted prostitutes, and in the area where the crimes took place as well as the use of torture. The proximity of a cemetery is also fueling speculation that the murder could have been a ritual killing....
http://gbtimes.com/world/italy-florence-gripped-fear-police-hunt-serial-killer