Romanian ringleader accused of 10 rapes was offered £1,500 to leave the UK
Mircea Marian Cumpanasoiu, 38, led an Eastern European network that raped, drugged, and exploited vulnerable local women in Dundee.
The ringleader of a Romanian grooming gang was offered £1,500 by the Home Office to be deported while he was in prison awaiting trial for 10 rapes, a Sky News investigation has found.
Mircea Marian Cumpanasoiu, 38, led a network which raped, drugged, and exploited vulnerable local women in Dundee.
In the summer of 2024, while in custody at HMP Perth awaiting trial for serial sex offences, officials handed him a "voluntary return" form under a government scheme paying foreign nationals to leave Britain.
The department later decided not to remove him because of the upcoming court proceedings.
Immigration status renewed during trial
In another twist, just months later—as he stood in a High Court dock facing 10 rape charges—Sky News has discovered Cumpanasoiu’s immigration status, which was due to expire, was automatically renewed under the EU settlement scheme.
Cumpanasoiu was later handed a 24-year extended sentence, with 20 years in jail and four on license, for sexual and trafficking offences.
Prosecutors described him as a "winking, smirking pimp" who once filmed a victim climbing a tree to escape his anger when she "failed" to make enough money in Dundee brothels.
Following days of questions from Sky News, officials have confirmed his settled status has now been revoked.
The inside story
Sky sources say Home Office workers personally met Cumpanasoiu at Perth prison while he was on remand in August 2024.
Sources say he "expressed a desire to return home" and was handed documents to sign agreeing to a cash-assisted return, but the plan was later blocked.
But in another twist, on 2 December 2024, halfway through the grooming gang trial, his EU settled status was renewed.
A source close to the proceedings told Sky News the revelations "smack of incompetence".
The Home Office does not dispute this version of events.
A spokesperson for the charity said: "This was a horrific case, which involved numerous vulnerable survivors who showed tremendous strength and courage by coming forward to seek justice for what had happened to them.
"The severity of this case has, quite rightly, resulted in significant prison sentences for the perpetrators. However, it is not clear why the Home Office tried to intervene before a trial had begun, and any verdict had been reached.
"Survivors must have faith in the criminal justice process and its ability to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes.
"This incident raises questions about what the Home Office’s intentions were, and why it was able to insert itself into active criminal proceedings in the first place."
World Affairs Correspondent
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