Two jailed in ‘wicked’ slavery case
Vulnerable woman subjected to months of abuse
A COUPLE from Barwell has been jailed after keeping a vulnerable woman as a slave for over a year.
Kevin Warren, aged 27, and partner Donna Morris, 35, both of Bradgate Road, pleaded guilty to a charge under the Modern Slavery Act at Leicester Crown Court.
Warren also admitted five counts of rape against the woman who was aged in her 20s.
The couple’s victim was subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse in an ordeal which spanned 17 months.
Their cruelty only came to an end when the brave woman broke down and began to disclose the life she was being forced to lead.
A police investigation was launched and culminated in the start of trial at the end of last year.
But before a jury could return a verdict, Warren and Morris both pleaded guilty to charges against them.
Detectives who led the investigation said: “The depths to which these offenders sank were matched only by our resolute determination to bring them to justice.”
Appearing at Leicester Crown Court on Friday (January 19), Warren was jailed for 18 years and ordered to serve five years on licence on his release.
Morris was handed a four year prison sentence.
Detective Inspector Mark Parish, who oversaw the investigation, said the crimes committed against the woman were “truly shocking in their wickedness, their wantonness, and their horror”.
He said: “I cannot begin to imagine the torment this young, vulnerable woman went through in those 17 months. It beggars belief that people can treat a fellow human being in such a grotesquely cruel fashion.
“The depths to which these offenders sank were matched only by our resolute determination to bring them to justice, and I would want to praise my colleague Detective Constable Tom Butler who has demonstrated total dedication and determination in his enquiries to achieve that.
“The fact that the two defendants pleaded guilty is a tribute to the victim’s remarkable courage in coming forward and telling us what had happened to her, and to Tom’s dogged perseverance and the thoroughness of his work as the officer in charge of this case.
“Let this terrible case send out the strongest possible warning to anyone who thinks it is appropriate to treat a fel- low human being like this. You will be caught, and you will face justice.”
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was abused physically, emotionally, financially and sexually.
Speaking following their sentencing, she said her experiences had all but destroyed her life.
She said: “They took complete control over all my finances, leaving me vulnerable and reliant on them in all aspects of my life.
“During the 17 months I was treated worse than an animal. “By the end, I had nothing left. “My spirit and fight had gone, and I was barely human.
“One day I could take no more, and fell apart.
“That led to police involvement, and the day I spoke to the police was the day I began to turn my life around.
“Looking back now, I can’t believe how degrading, brutal, and traumatising it had been, and how it had all but destroyed me.
“I want to thank the police with all my heart.
“Without them, I don’t believe I would or could have survived.
“The only crumb of comfort I have is that the people who treated me in such a depraved and inhumane fashion as their slave admitted their guilt.
“I owe the police everything. Thank you.”