A mother has recounted the chilling moment she came face-to-face with the elderly man who was sex trafficking her daughter and supplying the heroin that would ultimately claim her life. Caitlin Hanna, aged just 21, died from a drug overdose in March 2022 in Lisburn, near Belfast, after becoming ensnared in a vicious criminal ring where young, vulnerable women were provided with heroin in exchange for working in prostitution.
A Death That Exposed a Criminal Underworld
Her tragic death acted as a catalyst, blowing open a dark criminal underworld in which predatory, abusive men systematically groomed, controlled, and supplied drugs to women. A subsequent three-year police investigation, led by the Police Service of Northern Ireland's modern slavery and human trafficking unit, culminated in the convictions of four men, all aged over 60, after more victims found the courage to come forward.
The Predator: Derek Brown
A new BBC documentary, now available on iPlayer, delves into the harrowing case, focusing on how Derek Brown trafficked, spied on, and sexually assaulted Miss Hanna before her fatal overdose. The 61-year-old is believed to have exploited at least four women, controlling them through a cruel cycle of providing drugs in return for them meeting sex buyers, and also using them for sex himself.
Brown's reign of exploitation was finally halted when another of his victims went to the police. In March 2025, he was handed a six-year sentence at Craigavon Crown Court. His sentence is split equally between time in jail and time on licence.
A Mother's Haunting Realisation
The documentary features powerful testimony from Miss Hanna's mother, Deborah, her friends, and investigating officers, who detail how the criminals used coercion, fear, and heroin to exploit their victims. Miss Hanna's descent into prostitution began when she was just 15, as her family started to suspect she was using drugs.
Deborah discovered the following year that her daughter was in an abusive relationship with a man ten years her senior and had begun using heroin. In a poignant segment, Deborah describes the fateful day in February 2022 when she met Brown by chance at a petrol station, months after her aunt had noticed Miss Hanna frequently mentioning a 'Derek' on social media.
"It didn't ring alarm bells right away," Deborah recalls. "It wasn't until I met them and seen them with my own eyes, who Derek actually was."
She recounts hearing her daughter call out "Mummy" as she left the garage. "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'."
Following her daughter to a car, Deborah describes the shocking moment Brown rolled down the window. "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," she says.
In a state of shock, she addressed him: "I hope she's behaving herself." After Brown rolled his eyes, she turned to her daughter, who pleaded: "Please don't say anything mummy, please don't say anything. He's awful awful good to me."
"If I'd had have known exactly what was going on," Deborah states with devastating clarity, "he would never have drove out of that garage with my child in that car."
The Hidden Belfast
Miss Hanna's friend Rebecca, now a recovering addict and abuse survivor, also speaks in the documentary, shedding light on the hidden criminality in Belfast. "There is a hidden Belfast, a really dark and evil side people should be aware of," she warns. "If people knew the real, full force of what is going on, you wouldn't want to be here."
Rebecca describes how Brown initially presented himself as soft and caring, offering shelter to her and Caitlin when they 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," she explains, detailing the calculated grooming process.
She reveals that Brown and the other men would withhold drugs to assert power, and that both she and Caitlin were advertised as 'escorts'. "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," Rebecca recounts, illustrating the relentless, dehumanising cycle.
The Convictions and the Victims
Derek Brown was convicted of a catalogue of offences including human trafficking, controlling prostitution for gain, sexual assault, paying for sexual services, and drugs offences related to the supply of Class A controlled drugs.
The police probe also led to the conviction of three other men for human trafficking offences, and a fourth man for controlling prostitution and brothel keeping. In total, nine victims were involved in the case, some as young as 17 at the time of the offences.
The court heard how the men preyed on the vulnerabilities of heroin-addicted women, exploiting issues such as drug addiction, homelessness, and mental health problems to force them into prostitution in exchange for a supply of drugs.
The documentary, 'Caitlin Hanna: Trafficked In Belfast', serves as a stark examination of this brutal exploitation and the ongoing fight against modern slavery in Northern Ireland.
