By Eric King And Lucy Caulkett-
A gang-of-four who subjected sex workers to ‘terrifying’ knife-point robberies were jailed for a total of 48 years last Saturday.
Erlandos Vyte and Robertas Zilionas, both of Chigwell, travelled into London with Jospin Ble and Joshua Coke to rob unsuspecting escorts after booking appointments over the phone. The men were sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, 7 February.
The Eye Of Media.Com travelled to Chigwell and East London to find out why these thugs went on such an evil robbing spree, targeting escorts. Over 60% of those spoken to said the gang viewed robbing escorts in a similar way as robbing drug dealers and felt they would not report it. One teenager of 19 years who insisted on anonymity told The Eye Of Media.Com:
” the guys definitely saw escorts like drug dealers. They would have assumed they wouldn’t report to the police. They saw it as a quick money making scheme. Their mission of raiding different areas like that suggests they saw it as an earner. Even those who wore bulaclavas just don’t want to take a chance, but they still wouldn’t expect them to report it”.
Another 22 year old male from Walthamstow said: ”The boys did not expect the police to be told. Most sex workers would be too embarrassed to report to police.
Erlandos Vyte pleaded to nine counts of robbery Image: Met Police
What they did not understand is that the trauma of the experience alone would some escorts to report that kind of crime. Even if they were scared to report it, someone they tell the story will persuade them to report it.
The four men had all previously been convicted at the same court in relation to a series of seven robberies against nine female victims carried out in a wide range of locations across the capital over a seven-month period. The cruel thugs forced their way into the escorts’ addresses armed with knives and subjected their victims to a horrifying ordeal. They tied the women up and threatened them after which they stole their cards, money, phones and other possessions were stolen.
The gang targeted seven locations across London over a seven-month period. Starting in June 2018, in Westminster. The gang also robbed escorts in Isle of Dogs, Hackney, Kensington, and Tower Hamlets. Detectives used over 327,000 separate ‘lines’ of phone data over many months – with each line representing a single text, phone call or ‘internet activity’ – leading to the gang’s arrest.
Robertas Zilionas was found guilty of five counts of robbery Image:Met Police
By December 2018 they had moved onto Kensington, robbing an address on Cromwell Road SW5. The final two robberies were both carried out in Tower Hamlets within a two-day period in January 2019, on Brune Street and Assam Street, E1. A CCTV camera at the latter address captured Vyte and Zilionis [and one other unidentified male] wielding a large knife and violently kicking in doors.
Jospin Ble pleaded to five counts of robbery (Met Police)
Detectives investigating the series of crimes were faced with a challenging lack of forensic evidence – just one lead emerged from all of the different scenes, a fragment of a latex glove left by Ble. This led to data from the phones belonging to the robbers becoming critical to detectives being able to collate the evidence they needed to prosecute them.
Joshua Coke was found guilty of one count of robbery (Met Police)
RUTHLESS
Detective Sergeant Patrick Allen, said: “These crimes were committed by a ruthless group of men armed with knives who targeted lone vulnerable women [working] in their own homes. They attacked these women believing they would not report the incidents to police due to fear, embarrassment or the belief that the women would just see this as an occupational hazard.
“They were wrong, and I’d like to praise those women that did come forward. I would like to assure those women and men involved in the escort trade that no matter what work you do if you make an allegation of crime it will be taken seriously and robustly investigated by the Met. We will continue to pursue other suspects we have reason to believe were involved and would urge any other victims out there to contact us.”
Vyte, 24, of Copperfield Road, Chigwell pleaded guilty to nine counts of robbery, while his three co-defendants were all found guilty by the jury following a six-week trial. He was sentenced to 12-and-half years in jail. Zilionas, 21, of Copperfield Road, Chigwell, was found guilty of five counts and jailed for 14 years. Ble, 23, of Knox Road, Newham, was also found guilty of five counts, while Joshua Coke, 21, of Mountfield Road, Newham, was found guilty of one count. Ble was sentenced to 12 years’ and Coke to 10 years in jail.
The men were sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, 7 February.Detective Superintendent Colllings, added: “We encourage officers to treat all sex workers with understanding and respect, and recognise that the safeguarding of the vulnerable has to be at the heart of our response regardless of individual circumstances.
“The convictions achieved in this case bear out this approach, and I hope that they will serve to increase trust among this group and give any other victims the confidence to come forward to report crimes to us”