Slave kept for 40 years was forced to live in a 6ft shed
A VULNERABLE worker was kept as a slave for up to 40 years – with his captor now facing jail.
Peter Swailes, 56, was charged with human trafficking offences after a raid on a caravan site in October 2018.
The 58-year-old vulnerable male was found living in a 6ft wooden shed which contained ‘just a chair and soiled bedding’. Officers added that another shed on site used for the family dog to sleep in was in a far better state.
The man was paid as little as £10 a day to carry out tasks such as drive tarmacking and farm work.
Martin Plimmer, Senior Investigating Officer for the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), said: ‘In my long career, I’ve never come across anyone who has been held as a slave potentially for 40 years.
‘This, I think, could be the longest period of captivity that we have dealt with. It’s an extremely sad and serious case.’
He added: ‘For four decades, he was in effect kept as a slave. We are sadly all too aware of the fact that he will be traumatised by his experience for the rest of his life.’
The GLAA said they found the victim in a small green wooden shed, next to Swailes’ father’s static caravan at Hadrian’s Caravan Park, near Carlisle, on October 3, 2018. Swailes was charged with conspiring with others, including his 81-year-old father, to arrange or facilitate the man’s travel with a view to exploitation.
His father, who shared the same name as Swailes, denied the same charge but died last year. After initially denying the crime, Swailes yesterday changed his plea to guilty during a hearing at Carlisle Crown Court.
Judge Richard Archer said: ‘I’ve already indicated this is a case which is so serious that a custodial sentence must follow.’
The charge against Swailes dates back to July 2015, when legislation came into force under the Modern Slavery Act – although investigators believe the victim was exploited over several decades. Mr Plimmer said after the raid: ‘When we found [the victim], he was like a rabbit in headlights and very confused. He was just in the clothes he stood up in and where he was sleeping in the shed, there was a soiled duvet on the floor.
‘There was no heating and it was very cold. It was conditions that no human being should live in.’
GLAA investigators found the shed itself was in ‘poor condition’ with only one window which could not be fully closed.
An old electric heater with damaged wiring was discarded in the corner of the shed and there was no other heating inside.
When arrested at the time of the raid, Swailes’ father said: ‘Not all this slavery thing again.’ The ‘slave’ appeared dishevelled and agitated, telling officers that he had lived there for 40 years.
Mr Plimmer alleged the victim had been ‘forced to work’ since his late teens.
Asked to provide an update on the victim, who now lives in supported accommodation outside of Cumbria, prosecutor Barbara Webster told yesterday’s hearing: ‘He has accommodation that he is extremely happy with.
‘He is in regular contact. He has a carer who comes in and checks him. He is doing extremely well. He will be cared for until the end of his life.’
Unemployed Swailes, who is receiving benefits, has suffered two strokes since 2018 and repeated mini-strokes. Judith McCullough, defending, said: ‘He is not in good health at all.’
Judge Archer adjourned the case against Swailes, of Low Harker, near Carlisle, and granted him bail until February 4 for a pre-sentence report.
‘Victim was a rabbit in headlights’