Asemota, Franca

Franca Asemota was convicted on 3 August 2016 at Isleworth Crown Court of eight counts of conspiracy to traffic persons for sexual exploitation, two counts of trafficking out of the UK of another person for sexual exploitation, and two counts of assisting unlawful immigration to a member state. 

The offending occurred between August 2011 and April 2012 and related to Ms Asemota’s involvement in the trafficking of young women, mainly from remote villages in Nigeria, for the purposes of sexual exploitation.  

Ms Asemota received a sentence of 22 years’ imprisonment. The CCRC received an application for review of the sentence in January 2024.  

A review found that whilst the Sentencing Judge had outlined that the 309 days Ms Asemota spent in custody in Nigeria while awaiting extradition should count towards the sentence, it was not formally pronounced as part of the Judge’s Sentencing Remarks.  

Consequently, these 309 days were not deducted from the sentence and this error could not be administratively rectified. 

Section 243 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 sets out that the sentencing court should have made a statement in open court that time spent on remand in Nigeria under a European Arrest Warrant awaiting extradition to the UK for offences for which the defendant was subsequently convicted should be deduced from the sentence.  

There was therefore a real possibility the Court of Appeal would reduce Ms Asemota’s sentence by the 309 days spent on remand in Nigeria awaiting extradition. 

The CCRC referred the sentence in January 2025.