Chin, Gao and Lu are all facing jail after running a sex trafficking operation (Picture: PA)

A dad, his ex-wife and his lover are facing jail after trafficking women into a ‘sexual conveyor belt’ of prostitution so they could send their child to private school.

Hong Chin, 45, ran a pit bull dog breeding kennel on a country estate in Esher, Surrey, where his ex-partner Li Wei Gao, 44, lived in a converted barn with their daughter.

But at the same time the pair were raking in more than £100,000 by trafficking women into sex work, helped by Chin’s then-lover Ting Li Liu, 47.

Chin, Gao and Lu all denied the charges against them. However, following a trial at the Old Bailey, all three defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to control prostitution for gain between February 2013 and June 2015, and of plotting to traffic for sexual exploitation into the UK between March and June 2015.




Sussex Police found out about the illicit operation in February 2015 after one of the victims reported being debt bonded, meaning she was forced to do sex work in order to repay a debt.

Following extensive investigations officers identified 18 women from China, Hong Kong and Korea who were exploited for prostitution. However, only one was prepared to give evidence in court.

Investigators also gathered other evidence from mobile phones, adult websites and booking records, as well as CCTV footage which showed the defendants sending women to hotels around the country.

The women would advertise sexual services online, along with a phone number that was fielded by the defendants, who would organise the jobs and tell the women what they needed to do.

Customers would pay cash on arrival, most of which was channelled into the accounts of Chin and Gao.

The trio were tried at the Old Bailey (Picture: PA)

The gang used false details to reserve rooms through Booking.com at hotels including Travelodge, Premier Inn and Holiday Inn, located all over southern England and Wales.

Chin, who was Malaysian, had a fake British passport and went by a number of different names, including Ricky, Goon Saw and Ken. His ex-partner Gao, woh was Chinese, also used a fake passport in the name of Xin Pan, and was also known by the alias Jessica.

Between August 2013 and February 2015, Chin made a total of 92 hotel bookings through the website, the court heard.

When police visited the rooms they found them in disarray with the detritus of prostitution – including condoms – strewn about.

The victims have now been returned to their home countries, except for the woman who gave evidence, who has claimed asylum in the UK.

Kevin Thomson from the CPS said: ‘The gang exploited vulnerable women, putting them to work in situations which exposed them to serious potential risks. Once the women were caught up in the prostitution ring, it was invariably almost impossible for them to escape the life they had been forced into.

‘All the time, they were then earning what turned out to be huge sums of money for the defendants, who were responsible for running the operation without any regard for the women’s well-being.’

The trio will be sentenced at the Old Bailey at a date still to be confirmed.