The Dark Figure*

Modern Slavery is the term used within the UK and is defined within the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The Act categorises offences of Slavery, Servitude and Forced or Compulsory Labour and Human Trafficking (the latter of which comes from the Palermo Protocol). — UK National Crime Agency

In 2015, the UK Government passed the Modern Slavery Act, a new piece of legislation which would raise awareness of the existence of slavery in the 21st century, while highlighting the growing number of cases of forced labour, human trafficking and sexual exploitation across the country. In 2017, the National Crime Agency (NCA) included 5,145 potential victims of modern slavery in their Strategic Assessment, nearly 2,000 more than in 2015. This number is determined by victims who have been encountered by authorities, and further testify, but does not include potential victims who either do not testify, or who are not known to the NCA.

* The hidden nature of modern slavery makes it likely that many such cases are unknown. By analysing the overlaps between known cases, statistician Professor Bernard Silverman has estimated “the dark figure” of cases that have not yet come to attention. This estimation concludes there are between 10,000 and 13,000 potential victims of modern slavery in the UK today.

This project documents neighbourhoods where modern slavery crimes have taken place. Information has been included wherever possible, but can be limited as cases unfold. I hope that by presenting a case-by-case geographic study, we are able to find meaning in this new coined phrase “modern slavery”, so it is at least possible to consider what might be involved in Bernard Silverman’s “the dark figure”.

November 2013

Metropolitan Police from the Human Trafficking Unit arrested 73-year-old Aravindan Balakrishnan, and his wife, 67-year-old Chanda Pattni at their residential address in Brixton. They were investigated for slavery and domestic servitude.

Three women had escaped from the same residence one month before, having been held against their will for more than 30 years. Aishah Wahab, a 69-year-old Malaysian woman and Josephine Herivel, a 57-yearold Irish woman met Balakrishnan, known as “Comrade Bala” in London through a shared political ideology. He was the former Maoist leader of the Workers’ Institute of Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought. Rosie Davies, a 30 year old British woman spent her whole life in servitude under Balakrishnan.

The women were not physically restrained, but held by subjection to brainwashing, emotional abuse and physical abuse. Police were tipped off from a charity supporting victims of forced marriage, after receiving a phone call from the women who had been watching the ITV documentary Forced To Marry.

December 2015

Balakrishnan was convicted of child cruelty, false imprisonment, 4 counts of rape, 6 counts of indecent assault and 2 counts of assault. Chanda Pattni, was released earlier in 2014, as the court considered there to be insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.

Balakrishnan was sentenced to 23-years imprisonment in January 2016.

Holborn and Russell Square are home to two of the largest and most popular soup kitchens in London, and are well known trafficking hubs.

Traffickers will often wear high-vis jackets and arrive in vans or cars, aware that homeless and unemployed people will congregate at certain areas at certain times. This provides them with the opportunity to make a selection based on vulnerability. Alcoholics are commonly targeted and are provided with alcohol and cigarettes in exchange for a ride, with no information as to where they are going or why.

Men from 18 to 60 have been targeted from this area and are largely exploited in the block paving and tarmacing industry as well as areas such as agriculture, food processing and factory work.

Christian: “Guys came round, old gypsy guys. They said, ‘Do you want a job? Can you do a bit of labouring?’ I said, ‘How much are you going to pay?’ ‘We’ll pay you when the job’s finished.’ We drive down to this remote place and there’s a shed. He said to me, ‘You’re going to sleep in that shed.’ “

Nigel: “They fed me, that was it. That was the only thing they did do, you know what I mean? They said the money would be there at the weekend. I went, ‘Make sure my money’s there, you know what I mean?’ I said, ‘I just want my money. I work hard, I just want my money, that’s all I want.’ Come Friday, I fronted them, they surrounded me – ‘Just get back in your caravan.’ They threatened me. They said, ‘Go back in your caravan or we’ll dust you up,’ they said. It was a bit terrifying, wasn’t it, you know what I mean? I mean you don’t want to beat 20 people. They’re nasty people, they’re just nasty people.”

Transcript: Street Slaves, File on 4, BBC Radio 4

2004

A number of local fishermen were called in by the coastguard to help with the rescue of 24 Chinese cockle pickers that were trapped by the sweeping tides. Within a few hours, 20 bodies had been recovered and only 1 man was found alive.

Morecambe Bay holds a 28-mile tide. Locals told the press that the disaster was avoidable had the cockle pickers known the geography of the area. Instead, they were unable to navigate a safe route off the cockle bed.

The workers had been imported unlawfully via shipping containers into Liverpool where they were hired through local criminal agents of international Chinese Triads.

Morecambe locals had rescued large groups of stranded Chinese cockle pickers in previous years, but rather than act as a warning to both gangmasters and authorities, the booming cockling trade meant the industry was heavily under-regulated, so workers could be easily exploited.

In May 2004, the 21st body washed ashore.

January 2006

Gangmaster Lin Liang Ren was found guilty of the manslaughter of at least 21 people, breaking immigration laws, and for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

Ren’s girlfriend Zhao Xiao Qing and cousin Lin Mu Yong, were both found guilty of facilitating illegal immigration and for perverting the course of justice. They were sentenced to 7 years and 6 months between them.

Business owners of Liverpool Bay Fishing Company Ltd. David Anthony Eden senior and David Antony Eden junior, bought the gang’s cockles for far cheaper than local rates. Both were found not guilty for helping the workers break immigration law.

July 2015

A tweet on the Preston Police Twitter page raised concern about a number of young women living at an address in Longworth Street, which was suspected to be a brothel. Further enquiries led to a police raid at the address, where 2 women were found, both aged 18.

Marius Petre, Adrian Matei and Ionut Ion were arrested at the address. They had promised the women jobs as maids at a hotel. Instead, the women were taken to Longworth Street where they were told they would be working as prostitutes. They were forced to perform sexual acts on customers and were told that both they and their families would be beaten if they refused to comply, or tried to run away. They were also subjected to rape by Petre, Matei and Ion.

February 2016

Marius Petre and Adrian Matei were found guilty of intentionally arranging or facilitating entry to the UK of a person with a view to their sexual exploitation, causing or inciting prostitution for financial gain and of 4 counts of rape. They were both sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

Ionut Ion was found guilty of keeping or managing a brothel used for prostitution and of 2 counts of rape. He was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.

August 2012

A 20-year-old woman was kidnapped from her rural home in Slovakia. She was placed on a bus and told she would be going to the Czech Republic to find work. Instead, she was trafficked to an address in Bradford by Imrich Bodor, where Abdul Sabool Shinwary and Kristina Makunova sold her to Azam Khan for a sham marriage.

In October 2012, police received an anonymous phone call which led to the discovery of the 20-year-old, who had been falsely imprisoned, beaten and raped by Azam Khan at his home in Burnley. The victim spoke no English, had no money and her identity documents had been taken.

October 2013

Imrich Bodor, Abdul Sabool Shinwary, Kristina Makunova and Azam Khan were found guilty of human trafficking and false imprisonment. Azam Khan was found guilty of 3 counts of rape and battery. Nusrat Khan, a relative of Azam who lived with him in Burnley, was found guilty of false imprisonment.

2013

A 22-year-old Hungarian woman responded to an advert for a baby-sitter job in London and after a telephone interview, was offered a job.

When she arrived in Budapest to travel to Britain, she was met by three men who threatened her and removed her phone, before driving her to Slovakia, where she was brought to Manchester by coach. The woman was then sold to a Pakistani man for £3,500, who told her they were to marry.

She was held at addresses in Gorton, Longsight and Levenshulme in Manchester, before being taken to Chorley, Lancashire, where she was able to alert police.

2015

Bartolomej Sivak, the organiser of the operation pleaded guilty to trafficking and conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law and was sentenced to 4 years and 2 months.

Rana Yousaf, who assisted in the moving of the victim, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law and was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment.

Nasar Khan, who acted as a fixer for the sale of the victim, was found in Frankfurt and was extradited back to the UK. Khan was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law.

Waqas Younus is still wanted in relation to the investigation.

2012

3 Lithuanians working for D.J. Houghton Catching Services in Linton, Maidstone, visited a nearby Citizens Advice Bureau to ask for help after experiencing severe mistreatment from their employers, a local couple, Darrell Houghton and Jacqueline Judge.

The couple supplied chicken catchers to hundreds of poultry farms across the UK, including many of the largest factory farms producing eggs for leading supermarkets and high street fast-food chains.

A chicken catcher can catch up to 6000 birds per hour on farms that house more than one million birds. Work is usually carried out in the dark, to keep the birds calm. Legal limits restrict how long birds are allowed to be kept in crates awaiting slaughter, so most farms use agency labour, and will call for workers at short notice. The Houghton’s would send their workers as far as Penzance, unpaid, sometimes for only 2 hours work in unsanitary conditions without sufficient personal protective equipment or clothing. Toilet break requests were denied and their destination was always unknown. No food or drink was ever provided.

The Houghton’s advertised their jobs online and used a Lithuanian associate to arrange for the men’s travel to the UK. They promised good wages and accommodation, but were immediately debt-bonded on arrival. Victims were told, once in the UK they were to pay an illegal £350 “workfinding fee”, which was deducted from their wages, along with £40 or £50 rent per week. The accommodation they provided was overcrowded and dirty. They did not have a bed, shower, or adequate food for days at a time. They were subjected to intimidation and abuse, all the while being severely underpaid. The men were also denied their wages for reasons such as leaving a mug unwashed, or if they were seen out on their nights off.

2015

Of the 6 men working for the Houghton’s between 2008 and 2012, 3 have been officially recognised as victims of trafficking for labour exploitation. The Houghton’s were arrested but not charged. They told local media that they are blameless and that the allegations are untrue. The Houghton’s did admit to paying a Lithuanian national to find workers for their chicken catching business.

December 2016

A Lithuanian man was arrested by the Klaipeda County Police in Lithuania for human trafficking. It is suspected the man gained up to £90,000 in 3 years for human trafficking.

In a new legal landmark, 6 survivors have sued D.J. Houghton and its directors in the high court for damages. The survivors won the settlement, worth more than one million pounds in compensation for unpaid wages, distress, personal injury and consequential losses. It is the first such case that a UK company has been sued for modern slavery related offences.

10 other claimants are now expected to bring similar cases against D.J.Houghton.

July 2013

Authorities were alerted when a 20-year-old male trafficking victim contacted a charity, revealing he had been the victim of offences committed in 2011. More victims soon came forward, and others were identified.

Convictions were made against Hungarian traffickers Janos Orsos and Ferenc Illes, who had been providing workers to Kozee Sleep, a bed factory that supplied retailers including John Lewis, Dunelm and Next.

Company owner Mohammed Rafiq and two of his employees were charged with conspiracy to facilitate travel within the UK for exploitation. Rafiq was the first owner of a UK company to be charged with human trafficking offences.

Workers supplied to Kozee Sleep were forced to live with up to 42 men in a two-bedroom house on Batley Field Hill and were found to be surviving on small scraps of food. The men would work for up to 20 hours a day and were paid as little as £10 a week.

May 2014

Janos Orsos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic a person into the UK for exploitation, blackmail and converting criminal property. He was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. Ferenc Illes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic a person within the UK for exploitation. He was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.

January 2016

Mohammed Rafiq was found guilty of conspiracy to traffic and was sentenced to 2 years and 3 months imprisonment. He pleaded not guilty.

2000

33-year-old Darrell Simester from Worcestershire lives with autism. While hitchhiking alone on a family holiday in South Wales, he was picked up from the side of a dual carriageway and taken to Cariad Farm in Peterstone, near Newport.

For the next 13 years, Darrell Simester lived in a rat infested shed and then a cold, squalid caravan on the property of David Daniel Doran, and was made to work 16 hour days for no money, with only a horse trough to wash in.

Darrell Simester would call his family twice a year, telling them he was working on the roads, often from withheld numbers and with voices in the background telling him what to say. In 2008, he made his last phone call. Darrell tried to escape but the Doran’s found him in Cardiff and told him if he tried to escape again, they would kill him.

2014

Darrell Simester’s family found Darrell at the Doran’s farm following a social media campaign. They barely recognised him in his malnourished, oppressed state.

In October 2014, David Daniel Doran was jailed for 4 1/2 years after pleading guilty to forcing Darrell Simester to perform forced or compulsory labour.

June 2015

20 people were arrested at 3 farms on Wentloog Avenue, Peterstone, for offences including forced labour and money laundering.

13 victims aged between 23 and 56 were found in caravans including 2 British, 8 Polish and 3 Romanian.

Case ongoing.

If there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person is a victim of human trafficking, they will be referred to the government’s National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which provides suspected victims of trafficking 45 days of support, in which time they must cooperate with police to receive continued support. It is then up to the government to make a “Conclusive Decision” as to whether the individual in question is a victim of human trafficking.

If the individual is found to be a victim, they may be granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK for one year, to allow them to cooperate fully in any police investigation and subsequent prosecution. If the referred person is confirmed not to be a victim of trafficking, it is likely they will be referred to a law enforcement agency, police force or to the UK Border Agency.

September 2014

8 men were arrested on suspicion of trafficking persons into the UK for the purpose of labour exploitation at 5 properties across 3 neighbourhoods in Plymouth. 8 victims were recovered along with 13 children, all of whom were believed to be linked to the suspects.

The investigation was launched after one of the victims walked into the local police station in March 2014 to report his position of exploitation. He told police that he and others had been forced to provide labour for little or no money, having been trafficked into the country by an organised crime gang. All men were Czech nationals and were forced to work at various locations including car washes in Plymouth, factories in Cornwall and as domestic servants for the gang. The men were made to sleep in a garage, urinate into bottles, and were only allowed to eat outside.

Following the arrests, only 2 victims were willing to come forward and tell their stories to the police. This is common in cases of modern slavery. Victims are often scared of authority and have been conditioned not to speak by their gangmasters. Without witnesses, traffickers and gangmasters are often released through lack of sufficient evidence, and victims will return to their gangmasters through fear or lack of an alternative.

2017

4 women from the same family of those arrested, forced key prosecution witness Josef Bukovinsky to retract his original statement during trial, saying he was “under the influence of psychotropic substances, such as Pervitin and other substances, which had such an impact on my mind that I was unable to concentrate and make a statement based on the truth.” He also spoke of the corrupt practices of his investigating officers and of his interpreter.

Such irregularly in a key witness’ statement forced the investigation to broaden and become one of the largest and most complex of its kind. The 4 members of the defendants family also stood trial and were found guilty in the largest ever conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and derail a human trafficking prosecution.

Of the 8 men arrested for trafficking persons into the UK for the purpose of labour exploitation, 5 were jailed for a total of more than 20 years.

February 2016

A gang of three brothers, their uncle and two women were found guilty of 55 serious offences, some of which lay undetected for almost 20 years. 15 vulnerable girls, one as young as 11, were subjected to acts of sexual violence between 1987 and 2003 including rape, forced prostitution, indecent assault and false imprisonment.

Karen MacGregor was sentenced to 13 years for conspiracy to procure a child for prostitution, false imprisonment, and conspiracy to rape. MacGregor was a high-profile campaigner on behalf of abused children. In 2013, she founded KinKids, a community support group for kinship carers. MacGregor boasted that KinKids had helped families affected by the scandal. She had persuaded Rotherham council, local Labour MP John Healey and other local organisations to support KinKids in the wake of heightened investigation into cases of child abuse in Rotherham.

MacGregor had been luring vulnerable girls to her home in Walker Street, which was described by one of the victims as akin to the Hansel and Gretel fairytale. There, she would groom them before pimping them out to earn their keep.

One of her victims described how MacGregor was a motherly figure, who had taken her under her wing at a difficult time in her life and treated her like a daughter. Another victim described how within days of arriving, MacGregor had plied her with vodka to the point of unconsciousness before waking up to find herself being sexually assaulted.

Since 2016, 33 men and 1 woman have been imprisoned for rape, false imprisonment, sexual intercourse with a girl under 13, and indecent assault for a total of 445 years and 3 months. Cases are ongoing.

2017

The conduct of more than 60 officers from South Yorkshire Police who had dealt with the victims across the 20 year period is now under investigation. It is the largest Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) enquiry since the 1989 Hillsborough football disaster.

An inspection of Rotherham Council concluded it was “not fit for purpose”, following an independent enquiry into its handling of child sexual-exploitation reports since 1997. The enquiry identified a culture of "bullying, sexism ... and misplaced 'political correctness'", along with a history of covering up information and silencing whistleblowers. The leader of the council, Paul Lakin, resigned, and the government replaced its elected officers with a team of five commissioners, including one tasked specifically with looking at children's services.

November 2014

Police arrested 53-year-old Jurate Grigelyte at her property in Easton, Bristol, after a school raised concerns about the welfare of a 6-year-old boy, who was the son of a victim of human trafficking and forced labour, working under Grigelyte.

Grigelyte trafficked Lithuanian nationals to the UK with the promise of good employment and accommodation, but instead would lock victims inside cramped, squalid properties, only allowing them to enter and leave through a window.

The victims, many of whom spoke little to no English, worked for Grigelyte’s charity bag business collecting donations and sorting through clothing. They were transported around the South West in vans with no seats or windows. A typical working day lasted from 5am to 6pm. Grigelyte promised workers £25 per day, but would deduct money for rent, travel and various fines, often leaving workers debt-bonded, with no money for food.

Debt Bondage is the most widespread form of slavery in the world. A person becomes a bonded labourer when their labour is demanded as a means of repayment for a loan. The victim is then tricked or trapped into working for very little or no pay, to repay debts their employer says they owe. Often, the victims’ identification is taken, and bank cards are controlled, limiting any hope of freedom.

June 2015

Grigelyte was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment after admitting to 10 charges of facilitating entry into the UK with a view to exploiting labour, 10 charges of human trafficking and one count of forced labour.

February 2010

Police in Bristol raided a residential property on Ash Road, after neighbours complained of what smelt like a strong smell of chest-rub coming from the property next door. Three Vietnamese “gardeners” were found locked inside the property along with 900 cannabis plants in what was described by police as “an extremely professional set-up.” The three men spoke no English and were arrested at the scene.

Six months later the men were found guilty of producing a class C drug with conspiracy to distribute.

Their employers remain unknown.

Cannabis cultivation is the second most common form of criminal exploitation. Most often, victims are Vietnamese, 81% of which are children.

Victims of criminal exploitation are too often mistaken as the criminals themselves, making the business even more attractive to behind-the-scenes gangmasters. Victims often speak little or no English, hold no identification, and are therefore extremely vulnerable to exploitation.

February 2010

A disused NatWest bank was raided by Bristol Police, seizing its largest ever haul of cannabis plants, worth one million pounds. Two Vietnamese “gardeners” were found hiding in the plants and were arrested at the premises.

28-year-old Trung Vu and 30-year-old Hoang Dang had been living secretly in a cupboard beneath the stairs and were not allowed to leave the building. Detailed instructions had been left by their gangmasters, describing how they were to tend to 2,028 cannabis plants spread across 10 rooms and 4 stories of the disused building.

Trung Vu pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and abstracting electricity and was jailed for 4 years and 6 months. Hoang Dang pleaded guilty to producing cannabis and was jailed for 2 years and 9 months.

The gangmasters of the two men remain unknown.

March 2015

Two Hungarian women, aged 21 and 30 were found by Police at a terrace property on Spa Road in Bolton. They had been trafficked one year previously by the Dardai family, also Hungarian, who enslaved the women by forcing them into prostitution.

Daniel Dardai, Ferenc Dardai, Ferenc Dardai Jr., and Melania Kiraly were arrested and charged for modern slavery offences. Dardai Jr. set up profiles for the two women on adult websites. When clients called, he and his father would tell the women what to say. The victims were forced to see up to five clients a day.

One of the women told the court that she was made to eat with separate cutlery so she would not pass on any infection. She was given only bread, butter and salami, sometimes only once a day.

The women were beaten daily by Dardai Jr. and his mother. They were forced to hand over the money they made, which was approximately £150 per day. They were also told they could not leave until they had earned more money. One of the victims said Dardai Jr. had on occasions strangled her for not smiling enough for clients, and she had fainted after beatings.

All family members pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court for sexual exploitation of the women. Dardai Sr., who claimed in court that he had been directed by his sons, was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. His son, Daniel Ferenc was sentenced to 3 years in a young offenders institute. His brother Dardai Jr. was sentenced to 6 years. Dardai Jr’s wife Kiraly was jailed for 4 years and 6 months for conspiracy to commit a sham marriage.

December 2014

Brothers Mohammed Anjum Iqbal and Mohamad Najum Iqbal, Mohammed Zafar and Edward Fawcett were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to require another person to perform forced or compulsory labour and of conspiracy to commit trafficking offences after police raided a picture framing factory in Rochdale.

20 workers were discovered at the factory, 13 of whom were from Slovakia, and were all believed to be victims of forced labour and human trafficking.

Of the 13 victims, it was confirmed that 10 were living in a small terrace house on King Street, in dangerous and squalid conditions. It was alleged that the victims who lived there were paid £25 for an 80- hour week, after deductions were made for rent and travel.

June 2016

After a 6-week trial, Fawcett was found not guilty, by order of the Judge. The Iqbal brothers and Zafar were also found not guilty.

March 2016

Police received a phone call from an 18-year-old man who stated he was being held in domestic servitude and was being forced to work at an address in Old Street.

Tomas Maslulis and Edmundas Zigmantas were arrested for offences under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Six further arrests were made at the same address for organised crime related theft.

Maslusis was charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment, with the intention of committing human trafficking and knowingly holding another person in slavery or servitude. Zigmantas was charged with knowingly holding another person in slavery or servitude.

Maslusis and Zigmantas have been remanded into custody and are due to appear before Tameside Magistrates Court.

Case ongoing.

July 2013

A 36-year-old Latvian woman arrived in the UK with the belief that she would be given a job on a mushroom farm. Instead, she was taken to the house of Hanan Butt and Jekaterina Ostrovska in Slough, and was then moved to Birmingham where she was introduced to Mohammed Akmal, whom she later married in a false Islamic ceremony, witnessed by Rashid Ahmed.

The victim was moved to two addresses in Longsight, Manchester. At the first address, she lived in a small attic bedroom which was locked, while Akmal’s family lived in the main house. The second address had metal grates over the windows and she was not allowed to use the telephone or leave the house without being supervised.

The victim was found after she tore off a partial address from a piece of mail and rang her mother who informed Interpol.

November 2015

Mohammed Akmal and Rashid Ahmed were both found guilty of conspiracy to seek to remain leave in the UK by deception. Akmal was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months, while Ahmed was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment.

Hanan Butt and Jekaterina Ostrovska both pleaded guilty to human trafficking for exploitation. Butt was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months, while Ostrovska was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months imprisonment.

Women are commonly trafficked and forced into sham marriages with men, who are seeking to apply for residency in the UK. Victims, who are often from poverty-stricken countries, are recruited by organised crime gangs, before being sold to potential grooms.

May 2008

The discovery of the remains of a body was found in a garden shed near Bamfurlong Lane, triggering a year long investigation, including a 5 month surveillance operation of the Connors family traveller sites.

The body was that of Christopher Nicholls, who had been working for the Connors for 3 years and was reported missing by his parents in 2005. He was struck by a car in 2004.

March 2011

Gloucestershire Police carried out warrants at three properties in Gloucestershire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. 19 vulnerable people were found living at Beggers Roost caravan park in Cheltenham, living in squalid conditions and were subject to assault, theft of benefits, and exploitation.

Survivor Mark Ovenden reported he was heading to his local soup kitchen in Bournemouth when a white van pulled over ahead of him. The driver approached him and offered him a job near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. He was taken to Beggers Roost and subjected to modern slavery for the next 2 years of his life.

Some of the rescued men had been kept at the Connors property for up to 30 years and having been institutionalised, did not recognise themselves as victims.

5 members of the Connors family were charged with offences involving the serious mistreatment of people who, because of their personal circumstances, had little option but to remain with the Connors. All 5 members of the Connors family were found guilty of the conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour between April 2010 and March 2011 and are facing a maximum sentence of 14 years.

March 2014

A 23-year-old man from Bournemouth was arrested in connection with slavery offences after residents from Ringwood Road told local journalists they had seen mini buses of different men come and go from the garage. Their concerns were reported to the police.

6 men, aged between 20 and 30, were found on site, but the 23-year-old was released without charge.

A police spokesperson said that, following “extensive interviews with the men working there and consultation with other agencies, it was concluded that the offence of slavery had not taken place.” The working regime in operation at the garage remained under investigation.

We are all implicated in this problem. But that means we are also part of its solution. Figuring out how to build a more just world is our work to do, and our story to tell. So let us tell it the way we should have done, from the very beginning. Let us tell this story together. — Noy Thrupkaew, journalist and survivor

by  Pete Brook 

Everyone has a vision of Britain. Some folks hold fast to idealised visions of Old Albion. Others cultivate remorseless views of Broken Britain. Most people, though, temper their nostalgia for the past and anxieties of the present, to see both the good and the bad in the everyday. It helps to stay grounded. Without question, however, Amy Romer presents here a disconcerting vision of Britain, revealing an underbelly of which most are unaware. The Dark Figure* is a survey of very ordinary byways, properties and postcodes in which humans have been stripped of their most fundamental rights.

The unremarkable nature of these locations is precisely what makes the work so remarkable. Shockingly, this is slavery next door. I am not being hyperbolic. I grew up in Chorley, Lancashire where Romer made an image. In 2015, from a property on Cunliffe Street, adjacent to cafes in which I've sat and pubs in which I've drank, a 22-year-old Hungarian woman escaped her captors and alerted police after she had been trafficked from Budapest to Slovakia to Manchester, sold, and held at three different addresses in the North West.

The ways in which we perceive Britain and our place in it shapes so much of our attitude, conversations and activities. Now more than ever, politicians, publics and press are pushing their notions of what Britain was, is and might become, with no way to predict which versions of Britain will come to pass. As much as I am loath to mention Brexit, it is the lived and contested context in which Romer's photographs of Britain find themselves. Does this moment, in which we are fervently arguing over visions for Britain, allow space for Romer's survey of hidden violence?

While Brexit uncertainty causes anxiety for the majority of people in Britain as regards their financial stability and social futures, modern-day slaves haven't even a voice or vote. The majority of Brits rightfully worry about their lot in times of austerity and their post Brexit circumstances, but their concerns are aired publicly (if inelegantly) and form the basis of debate, popular protest and daily news. Invisible, modern-day slaves are outside of public life and the public eye. If they occupy the public consciousness, they are relegated to its dark recesses. Slaves’ experiences of Britain are those of utter disenfranchisement. It would follow that their visions of Britain are as limited as their physical confines. So crushing is their subjugation, slaves may barely conceive futures free from servitude.

In 2017, there were 5,145 recorded cases of modern-day slavery in Britain. Given the clandestine nature of modern slavery, Professor Bernard Silverman, Scientific Adviser for the Home Office, estimated the number of actual instances to be closer to 13,000, more than double the reported figure. Men, women and children of all ages, ethnicities and nationalities can be clutched into slavery, yet the most vulnerable people are those within minority or socially excluded groups.

"Poverty, limited opportunities at home, lack of education, unstable social and political conditions, economic imbalances and war are some of the key drivers that contribute to someone’s vulnerability in becoming a victim of modern slavery," reports Unseen UK.

Slavery is social death. The Dark Figure* brings the terrifying ubiquity of slavery across Britain's regions into stark focus. From Cumbria to Kent, from London to Devon, the length and breadth of the nation, Romer took herself down rural lanes and into the heart of cities. Modern-day slaves are forced into domestic servitude, bonded labour and sexual exploitation. Forced to work as farmhands, labourers, prostitutes, nannies, carers and other roles, victims of modern-day slavery are coerced and controlled by psychological abuse, threat, intimidation and physical harm. Many are trafficked across borders.

Clearly, Romer dedicated significant time and resources to making this work, but it also occurs to me that she gave a lot spiritually and psychologically too. When Romer visited these sites, with her camera, on a given day, she did so after hours, days, weeks and months of research. She sourced, read and dissected hundreds of court proceedings, police reports and news briefings. What ruddy knowledge to carry into the field.

These photographs present an inconvenient truth; the deeply depressing presence of modern-day slavery woven into the fabric of our nation. The Dark Figure* destabilises almost all closely-held visions of Britain viewers may have. Romer isn’t a troublemaker though. Quite the opposite. The way in which she collects, edits and appends text to each image is nothing but good stewardship. Galvanised by Romer’s unflinching care, I’m willing to take on the gravity of the issue. I want to absorb the details and honour the survivors.

This book presents an opportunity to reorient one’s relationship to the issue of modern-day slavery. Of course, looking at photographs will not directly affect the lives of victims, but it can affect the lives of those around you. Can we talk about this issue at our dinner tables? Can we speak out loud about the indignity of life as a modern-day slave? Can we bring the issue out of the shadows? Many of the ordeals detailed herein came to an end when victims heard radio or TV segments about modern slavery, identified themselves as slaves and then made calls to helplines. Proof that public dialogue brings benefits.

Prosecution is on the up. Police forces are redirecting significant portions of their budgets to the investigation of modern slavery and trafficking. The more than 5,000 cases reported in 2017 was an increase of 35% on numbers reported the year prior. The issue could be larger than Silverman’s estimated, dark 13,000 figure. Each case is a tragedy and we should acknowledge that at in each of Romer’s locations society failed the victims. To different degrees, social services, neighbours, friends, family, religious leaders, fellow local businesses, contractors all failed.

We live in times of slavery. We have no choice but to embrace the conversation. Romer’s photographs make for suitable moments of reflection. Indeed, reconciling these commonplace streetscapes with the harrowing events they staged requires meaningful space and time. I recommend you allow yourself quiet during these pages. Romer’s photographs don’t provide actionable solutions (no photos do) or give you hard-and-fast answers, but society hasn't readily provided answers. Yet.

Thousands of people have slipped through social safety nets. As we move into the future, the difference can at least be an acknowledgment of these hitherto invisible and unspoken crimes. After The Dark Figure*, we have no excuse for complacency.

To learn more about modern slavery in Britain, visit:

 Modern Slavery Act 2015 

 National Referral Mechanism 

 Transparency in Supply Chains: A Practical Guide 

 Work and Pensions Committee Report: Victims of Modern Slavery  (2017) criticises the provision of support for victims of human trafficking identified in the UK.

 Human Trafficking Foundation 

 Stop the Traffik