He raped me, saying it was preparation for my new job

There was deep poverty in my house. We were living on my mother's pension payment because my father was unemployed. The man took me to a house in Vlore where a few other girls were staying. He told me he could send me to Italy where I could work for an Albanian family and earn money to support my family. I didn't want to leave my country but he said that bad things would happen to my family if I tried to run away.

'A few days later we took a boat to Italy. I was not allowed to speak to the other passengers. We arrived that night and had to jump into the water 30 metres from the coastline. There were cars waiting. We were taken to a house where we stayed overnight.

'The next day two other men took us to the train station and we left for Paris. The two Albanians who accompanied us said if anyone on the train asked who we were we had to pretend to be their sisters. In Paris we took a train to London where we were picked up by another man who drove us to a house near Manchester.

'The same night one of the men told us that we had to work in prostitution. I told him that I didn't want to, but he threatened me severely. That very night one of the men raped me. He told me this would be a preparation for my new job. I cried and said my family would never agree to this. They told me my family was in Albania and wouldn't be much of a help.

'I worked for one month. I had several clients a day and was forced to hand over all the money they paid me. I was heavily guarded by those people and beaten up on several occasions. They often threatened to kill me or harm my family if I wouldn't comply. I was afraid of them as I knew they carried guns and were on drugs.

'Once I did escape and spent the night at the train station on a bench. He soon found me. He thought that I had been working and asked me for the money. I told him I didn't work that night because I was sick, and he didn't wait until I even finished my sentence; he grabbed my hair and hit me in the face. The next time I saw myself, I was stark naked on the bed. A friend of mine helped me to get up. I was covered in blood. He beat me so much that night I couldn't move from the bed for 15 days.'

· Marina's nightmare ended when the police raided the brothel she was working in and deported her to Albania. She has been reunited with her family.