Mother reveals the second she got here nose to nose with the ‘previous man’ who intercourse trafficked her teen daughter – and bought her hooked on the medicine that may kill her

A mother has revealed the moment she met an ‘old man’ who was sex trafficking her daughter and got her addicted to the drugs that would eventually kill her.

Caitlin Hanna, 21, died from an overdose after becoming part of a ring where young victims were supplied with heroin in exchange for them working as prostitutes.

But her death in Lisburn near Belfast in March 2022 blew open a criminal underworld where abusive men groomed, controlled and supplied drugs to women. A three-year police probe saw four men aged over 60 caught after more victims came forward.

A new BBC documentary available on iPlayer looks at how Derek Brown trafficked, spied on and sexually assaulted Miss Hanna before her death from an overdose.

The 61-year-old is thought to have exploited at least four women, controlling them by providing drugs in return for meeting with sex buyers. He also used them for sex.

Brown was eventually stopped when another of his victims went to police – and he was handed a six-year sentence at Craigavon Crown Court in March 2025.

The documentary features testimony from Miss Hanna’s mother, friends and police who explain how the criminals used coercion, fear and heroin to exploit the women.

Miss Hanna’s spiral into prostitution began when she was aged 15 when her family started to suspect she was taking drugs.

Her mother Deborah found out the following year that Miss Hanna was in an abusive relationship with a man ten years older and had started taking heroin.

In the documentary, Deborah talks about meeting Brown by chance at a petrol station in February 2022, a few months after her aunt noticed Miss Hanna was often mentioning a ‘Derek’ on social media.

Deborah says: ‘It didn’t ring alarm bells right away. It wasn’t until I met them and seen them with my own eyes, who Derek actually was.’

She adds: ‘I was coming out of the garage and I heard “Mummy”. I turned round and there she was coming out of the shop. I said “who are you here with?” And she said “Derek”. And I went: “My God, where is he? I’d love to meet him”.

‘She was like “yeah, he’s over here in the car, come on over”. So I followed her over and he pulled down the window and I’ll never, ever forget that initial seeing with my own eyes. An old man. Like, an old man. He looked older than my daddy.

‘I looked at him and I said to him: “I hope she’s behaving herself”. I don’t even know where that came from, but I was that in shock. He sort of like rolled his eyes and just like that then, I turned away and she came behind me and I said to her: “How do you know him?”

‘She was like: “From the town, from the town. Please don’t say anything mummy, please don’t say anything. He’s awful awful good to me, awful awful good to me”.

‘And I just went: “Right, OK, Caitlin.” And she went over to him and got into his car. I was just in shock. I sort of seen it, I was like “What, no, no, no this isn’t right. What are you doing with her?”

‘If I’d had have known exactly what was going on, he would never have drove out of that garage with my child in that car.’

Miss Hanna’s friend Rebecca, now a recovering addict and abuse survivor, also speaks about the criminal underworld in Belfast.

She tells the documentary: ‘There is a hidden Belfast, a really dark and evil side people should be aware of. If people knew the real, full force of what is going on, you wouldn’t want to be here.’

Rebecca adds: ‘When I first met Derek, he acted soft, he acted caring, and you genuinely would have thought that he was those things. He let us stay in his house because he knew we were homeless.

‘He would have fed you, given you a bed to sleep in, somewhere you could get showered. If you needed heroin, he didn’t just give you money, he would have supplied it as well.’

Rebecca says Brown and the other men would withhold drugs from the women to assert power over them, and both she and Caitlin were advertised as ‘escorts’.

She adds: ‘On the nights it was busy, you were literally getting in one car, getting back out, getting into the abuser’s car, handing them the money, getting your drugs (and going) back out for more appointments.’

Brown was sentenced after being convicted of human trafficking, controlling prostitution for gain, sexual assault, paying for sexual services and drugs-related offences, including being concerned in the supply of a class A controlled drug.

A sexual exploitation probe conducted by the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s modern slavery and human trafficking unit resulted in the conviction of three other men for human trafficking offences.

A fourth man was convicted of controlling prostitution and brothel keeping.

The victims were heroin addicts and the men would exploit their vulnerability to force them into prostitution in exchange for him supplying them with drugs.

There were nine victims involved in the case, some as young as 17 at the time of the offences. 

The victims had vulnerabilities including drug addiction, homelessness and mental health issues.

Half of Brown’s sentence is being served in jail and the other half will be on licence.

‘Caitlin Hanna: Trafficked In Belfast’ is available to watch on BBC iPlayer