Brothers jailed for slavery at Sports Direct

TWO Polish brothers were jailed yesterday for running a slave gang at a Sports Direct warehouse condemned for its ‘Victorian’ working practices.

EU workers were recruited by Krystian and Erwin Markowski to toil at the site owned by billionaire Mike Ashley.

They promised free travel, decent wages and comfortable lodgings close to the Shirebrook warehouse in Derbyshire.

But instead, the brothers – who were sentenced to six years, confiscated their passports and forced them to open bank accounts from which they helped themselves to their wages.

Detectives found no evidence that Sports Direct managers were aware of the racket among their army of low-paid workers.

But the news raises fresh questions about conditions at the warehouse, which was at the centre of a national scandal last year.

Mr Ashley was forced to apologise and admit that some staff were being paid less than the minimum wage amid claims of workhouse-like practices.

The tycoon – who also owns Newcastle United FC – faced claims of sexual harassment, employees falling ill from overwork and staff fined for turning up one minute late.

Yesterday, Nottingham Crown Court heard that workers were told to sign up with an employment agency that placed them at the huge Sports Direct HQ.

The Markowskis recruited them in Poland, mostly from the northern city of Torun, before bringing them to Britain by coach and installing them in cramped and dirty rented houses.

Krystian Markowski, 35, and his 38-year-old brother only let them keep £90 out of their £265 weekly take-home pay, claiming the rest as living and travel costs.

Using the workers own bank cards, they withdrew up to £2,000 a day from cash machines.

Prosecutor Luke Blackburn said the brothers stole £41,570 from the accounts of 18 workers over 12 months.

He added: ‘The brothers arranged for people to come to the UK. They did it to exploit these people and steal as much of their wages as they could.

‘By making threats to these people, they were in effect given little choice. They were strangers in a foreign country, and did not speak English. Those targeted were chosen because they were down on their luck, jobless, or really needed the money.’

The court heard one desperate man needed money to pay for urgent medical treatment for his seriously ill brother.

Victims slept on urine-soaked mattresses, with a family sleeping in a single bed in a shared house. Some were denied visitors and had a 10pm curfew. One man was attacked and made homeless and another was beaten when he criticised the accommodation.

The scam ended when one worker walked into a police station and officers raided the squalid house where they lodged.

The Markowskis, of Nottingham, admitted conspiracy to arrange travel for exploitation and fraud between March 2015, and February 2016.

Sentencing them, Judge Steven Coupland said the victims ‘lived in very poor conditions’, adding that they worked hard but received a ‘small fraction’ of their pay. ‘One of the victims spoke as being treated like a piece of rubbish, and that you had destroyed their lives,’ he said.

Janine Smith, chief Crown prosecutor for the Midlands, said the evidence against the brothers was so strong, they were left with no choice but to plead guilty.

She said: ‘Slavery is a global issue, but prosecutors are determined to take all steps to hold those responsible to account.’

DC Sarah Fearn, of Nottinghamshire Police, said the pair were the modern face of slavery, adding: ‘They systematically took advantage of vulnerable people.’

‘Destroyed their lives’