Jailed...slave boss who paid workers in chip shop scraps
A RUTHLESS chip shop boss who made vulnerable people work as slaves at his takeaway restaurants was jailed for eight and a half years yesterday.
Harjit Bariana, 46, exploited the British men by intimidating them with violence and forcing them to work long hours, paying them with leftover food scraps.
He was convicted of six slavery charges relating to four victims and of supplying class C drugs, following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court last month.
Judge Sarah Mallett told him: “Your business model was largely predicated on free labour and the most minimal expenditure into your business to extract the maximum profit.”
Bariana, of Netherton Colliery, Northumberland, who has previous convictions for dishonesty, illegal money lending, selling counterfeit goods and making threats, ran takeaways in Sunderland and Blyth, Northumberland. He also rented rooms in multi-occupancy homes in Blyth to people facing homelessness.
Exploited
Bariana, who was paid housing benefit, took extra cash from tenants for gas and electricity and made them work for free. Jobs included clearing a blocked sewer without gloves.
Another man had his shoes, belt and watch removed to stop him from going missing and avoiding work and an alcoholic just out of prison was set to work tiling a Blyth takeaway, Antonios, which took him all night.
The man, in his 40s, said he worked at the shop from 9.30am until the early hours, serving chips and making pizzas. He said: “I got food every night, basically leftovers.
“I worked for him [Bariana] every day for four to five months, apart from two days.” Asked if he was ever paid, he replied: “Not really. He bought a bottle of alcohol every night. I’m alcohol dependent, he knew that.”
Another victim said he was being forced to work 10 hours a day for food and soft drinks. Judge Mallett, who said there was bullying, threats, slaps and violence involving a person tumbling down a flight of stairs, told Bariana: “You exploited their vulnerability by way of addiction, you fed and encouraged their addiction to alcohol and on occasions, drugs.”
After sentencing, Chief Inspector Helena Barron of Northumbria Police said some saw modern slavery as people being trafficked into the UK from abroad, “but the difference here is that these were white British men who had lived all or most of their lives in the North-east”.
She added: “This can happen anywhere and police forces are making people aware of that.”