Latest / History Dark / Taken to the UK to be a Slave _ The Hunt for Britain_s Slave Gangs _ True Crime Stories

Transcript

Taken to the UK to be a Slave _ The Hunt for Britain_s Slave Gangs _ True Crime Stories · History Dark

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Tell me why you've decided to tell your story.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Here to give this interview.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: People need to know that in the 21st century people
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: can be used.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: For money and treated like animals.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: That story needs to be told.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: It's 5 a.m. in West Bromwich.
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: Everybody else in their right mind is tucked up in bed.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: Detective Constable Mike Wright is on his way to arrest
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: a man he believes is involved in human trafficking. and
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: may have breached an anti-slavery court order.
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: He certainly comes across as quite a friendly young man. However,
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: victims describe somebody who can be aggressive and violent, especially
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: when he doesn't get his way. And he's managed to
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: manipulate and exploit a lot.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: Of people, a lot of vulnerable people.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Mike's part of a West Midlands police team carrying out
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: the biggest ever investigation into modern slavery, Operation Fort. The
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: man they're after is suspected of belonging to a gang
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: that's held scores of people captive and stolen their wages.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: He poked his head out. He's arrested.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 2:27
  Speaker 5: For breach of a slavery and trafficking risk order.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: The police have given Panorama unique access to every twist
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: and turn of this groundbreaking case.
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: We've had somebody come forward and told us what's happened
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: to them, so therefore you've breached the order. So we're
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: going to arrest you, take you down to the police
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: station and interview you about it, and obviously you'll get
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: an opportunity to give your side of things, OK?
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: The police believe that arresting this man and having him
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: locked up is the only way to stop him exploiting people.
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: OK, I'm just going to place you in handcuffs. Just
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: till we get into the car and then they'll be
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: taken off and we get to the custody block.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: It won't be far. So just put your hands like that.
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: Other way.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: Detectives need every piece of evidence to show how this
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: man and the gang he belongs to enslave people for
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: personal gain. They find designer clothes, perfume and gold jewellery.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: They just buy things like this and they just keep
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: throwing them in cupboards.
• 3:27
  Speaker 6: Don't they?
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: They also find passports belonging to men living at the
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: address and jackets they believe may tie the gang to
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: suspicious activity captured on CCTV. Eight gang members have already
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: been charged and are due to stand trial in Birmingham.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Others are on the run in Poland. They fled after
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: being arrested and released on police bail.
• 4:07
  Speaker 7: It's been a long-term investigation lasting over three years now.
• 4:10
  Speaker 7: It's been quite a challenge to keep track on our
• 4:13
  Speaker 7: offenders as well as our victims.
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: Come on.
• 4:17
  Speaker 7: The crime group seemed to be able to leave the
• 4:19
  Speaker 7: country without leaving a trace of them leaving the country,
• 4:22
  Speaker 7: without us being able to stop them. It's not as
• 4:24
  Speaker 7: if they've completely disappeared, but it's really frustrating not to
• 4:27
  Speaker 7: have them here and have that confidence that I've got
• 4:31
  Speaker 7: them here to stand trial when we're ready to go
• 4:33
  Speaker 7: to trial.
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: Ever been arrested before?
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 4:36
  Speaker 8: What's your name?
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: The last thing the police want is for this man
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: to go on the run too.
• 4:45
  Speaker 8: I think that's the firm.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: Holborn Adams or Holborn and Adams, is it?
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: The custody officers have never heard of his lawyers.
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: Are they not on our list?
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: They're a London firm.
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: As we should have.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: It turns out the suspect is represented by a top
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: London firm. Mike is hoping he won't be given bail.
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: Should he be charged and the courts deem him a risk,
• 5:21
  Speaker 5: so remand him in custody, firstly, it would prevent him
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: from fleeing the country, and secondly, it would safeguard any
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: potential victims and also give the victims, in this case,
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: confidence that we will take action and that the courts
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: will give good sentences for these kind of breaches of
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: these orders.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: The man appeared in court and was set free on
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: bail by a district judge. He later skipped the country
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: to Poland. Birmingham Crown Court, nine months later. The trial
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: of five members of the slave gang is about to begin.
• 6:20
  Speaker 9: Right, so we are opening at two o'clock, come hell
• 6:24
  Speaker 9: or high water.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: There it is.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: The trial of the other three will begin as soon
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: as this one is over. The prosecution is being led
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: by renowned anti-slavery barrister and government advisor, Caroline Hochey.
• 6:41
  Speaker 9: It's the largest human trafficking labour exploitation case in Britain ever.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: It's being tried under the Modern Slavery Act.
• 6:47
  Speaker 9: And it is taking down a very large organised crime
• 6:50
  Speaker 9: group and gouging out its heart.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: There's a mountain of evidence. Caroline has to shape it
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: into a compelling case that will convince a jury.
• 7:02
  Speaker 10: Right.
• 7:03
  Speaker 9: There's so much material, so much complexity, so many parties.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Getting it off the ground is challenging.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: And.
• 7:11
  Speaker 9: I just want the jury to understand from the outset
• 7:16
  Speaker 9: what we're dealing with.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: What Caroline is dealing with is a large, highly organized
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: criminal enterprise. Each slaver has a specific role. At the
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: heart of the gang is a Roma family from central Poland.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: Its matriarch is Justyna Parczewska. She met slaves when they
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: first arrived. Marek Brzezinski organized housing for the captives, while
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: Marek Hovaniec got them into Britain. His close friend, Juliana Hodakiewicz,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: arranged work for the slaves. Another of Marek's friends, Natalia Zhmuda,
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: stole the slaves' wages.
• 8:05
  Speaker 9: This is absolutely a family business. Amongst the people involved
• 8:08
  Speaker 9: in this case are fathers, sons, cousins, uncles, mothers, aunts.
• 8:14
  Speaker 9: So although it's family-structured and that's where the core trust is,
• 8:19
  Speaker 9: a few other trusted people are brought in to facilitate
• 8:22
  Speaker 9: with their specific skill sets.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: The slaves were held in houses across the West Midlands.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: They were put to work in legitimate, well-known businesses. The
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: gang committed their crimes in plain sight.
• 8:38
  Speaker 9: They are a group of people, predominantly family-focused, who share
• 8:42
  Speaker 9: a vision on how they can exploit this commodity. The
• 8:47
  Speaker 9: commodity happens to be human beings.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: A human being doesn't have one purpose.
• 8:57
  Speaker 9: They are there to be utilised in any conceivable way
• 9:00
  Speaker 9: that they can be.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: Caroline has to show the defendants were working together to
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: profit from the misery of others. The key to success
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: is keeping things clear and simple.
• 9:15
  Speaker 9: I want the jury to be able to focus on
• 9:18
  Speaker 9: matter and issue. Were these complainants vulnerable? Were they exploited?
• 9:23
  Speaker 9: Was there an agreement between people to exploit them? And
• 9:26
  Speaker 9: were these defendants party to that agreement? If I can
• 9:29
  Speaker 9: explain that... from the outset and kind of draw out
• 9:33
  Speaker 9: the parts that will draw them in, well, then I'm
• 9:36
  Speaker 9: doing my job.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: The case is a huge challenge for the small team.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: Detectives Michelle and Mike need to check all the evidence
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: and get witnesses to court. And barristers Nick and Emma
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: have to help Caroline fight ten defence lawyers. They have
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: a vast amount of paperwork to prepare.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: I need 15 copies to start.
• 10:00
  Speaker 7: The trial.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: We've got eight here.
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: Right here, you're going to have four in another two hours.
• 10:05
  Speaker 9: How are we getting on with the graphics?
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: There is a printer jammed, so they're working on one
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: printer at the moment.
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: OK.
• 10:12
  Speaker 7: So unless the other printer gets up and running again,
• 10:15
  Speaker 7: we're talking four hours.
• 10:17
  Speaker 9: Two for the defendants and five for the defence team,
• 10:19
  Speaker 9: so we need seven copies.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: I will do with that.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: It's not a big deal.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: It's really not a big deal. We're cool.
• 10:30
  Speaker 9: It's very frustrating because... But the jury are with us.
• 10:33
  Speaker 9: When you say to them there's 250,000 pages being reduced
• 10:36
  Speaker 9: to 500, they kind of go, OK, yeah, we get it.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: The trial's due to last four months. Nick Dale led
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: the police investigation that's put the gang members in the dock.
• 10:50
  Speaker 7: There has been a really protracted investigation because of the
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: sheer volume of material, the number of witness statements, the
• 10:55
  Speaker 7: length of those witness statements. And I have seen and
• 10:58
  Speaker 7: my team have seen firsthand the profound effect this has
• 11:05
  Speaker 7: had on the victims of this crime. It's the sort
• 11:08
  Speaker 7: of thing you join the police for.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Piotr Pawski was one of the first witnesses to come
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: forward in 2015.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: Do thoughts of that time still run through your mind now?
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: Sometimes I do think about it.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Sometimes my nerves get the better of me.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: I tend to break things and I'm really nervous. I
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: do have a therapy at the moment, but I'm getting
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: really upset and nervous, especially when the court case is coming.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: Up.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: It's impossible to forget about it. It just stays with you.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: It's inside of you, inside of me and other people
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: like me who this happened to. You can't just erase that.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: And you keep meeting people who had the same story
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: and it just reminds you about it. I try to
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: not think about it, but it's just impossible to just
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: forget about it.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: The paperwork for the evidence bundles has arrived. Now it
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: needs to be filed in the right place.
• 12:42
  Speaker 7: It's like filming a really bad team in The Apprentice,
• 12:46
  Speaker 7: isn't it?
• 12:47
  Speaker 9: Who's going to get fired, that's the question.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: Who's Caroline going.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: To take in the boardroom?
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: It's become clear to the police that the gang they've
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: caught is one of many operating across Britain. They believe
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: home office estimates of the number of slaves are way
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: too low.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: Right, this is it.
• 13:07
  Speaker 7: My eyes have been opened to the sheer volume of
• 13:10
  Speaker 7: this criminality within our communities. Back in 2013-14, there was
• 13:14
  Speaker 7: an estimate that there were 10,000 to 13,000 victims of
• 13:17
  Speaker 7: modern slavery in the UK at any one time. If
• 13:20
  Speaker 7: we look at our experience in West Bromwich, which is
• 13:22
  Speaker 7: only a very small part of the West Midlands, I
• 13:25
  Speaker 7: think you could multiply that estimate several times.
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: The case first came to light through anti-slavery charity Hope
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: for Justice... Four years ago, one of its workers reported
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: desperate people turning up at a church soup kitchen.
• 13:45
  Speaker 6: We'd been operating the Westmanlands for a number of months,
• 13:49
  Speaker 6: and we were advised by the people at Centrepoint Church
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: that they'd got a number of potential victims of modern slavery,
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: stroke human trafficking.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: This man is a former police officer who works undercover
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: rescuing slaves. so his face is not being shown.
• 14:09
  Speaker 6: We realised from the intelligence and information we were gaining
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: from the victims that behind all this was an organised
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: crime group, a very organised crime group.
• 14:22
  Speaker 9: The Hope for Justice had a man on the ground
• 14:25
  Speaker 9: who realised that he was being told the same story
• 14:28
  Speaker 9: about the same perpetrators over and over again, and he
• 14:31
  Speaker 9: took them to the police, and slowly the picture pieces
• 14:34
  Speaker 9: started emerging. And it was almost as if Hope for
• 14:37
  Speaker 9: Justice created us the corners and the edges of the jigsaw.
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: This is the road where we rescued our first victims from.
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: There were at least 14, 15 people living.
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: In the house.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: The electricity had been disconnected, gas had been disconnected. It
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: was a pretty desperate situation. If I remember rightly, there
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: were no carpets on the floor. And this was January.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: It was very, very cold.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: To be honest, there were no conditions. For me, it
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: was total chaos. I'm sorry.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Honestly, it was appalling. It was worse than any living conditions.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: It's like where animals live. We slept on mattresses that
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: were possibly dragged from the street and just laid out
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: on the floor. We used our own clothing for cover
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: and to keep warm. There was no hot water. We
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: had to boil water in the kettle to clean ourselves
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: and wash our clothes. It was appalling.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: While some slaves were rescued, others had to escape.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: We had the one person watching over us, and we
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: had this one window of opportunity, so we ran for it.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: We ran through school yards, we ran towards the motorway,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: just to make sure that we're not showing the place
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: where we're actually going to be meeting the people who
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: helped us to escape. We switched our phones off because
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: we knew that as soon as we escape and that happens,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: you get the phone calls with threats that you need
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: to come back or you will be killed.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: When the police interviewed the slaves, they all told the
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: same story of entrapment, exploitation and threats of violence.
• 16:43
  Speaker 8: This friend who went.
• 16:44
  Speaker 11: To Manchester yesterday, they drove him somewhere and he got
• 16:49
  Speaker 11: beaten up. And that's why we ran away, because we
• 16:52
  Speaker 11: were scared that it will happen to us.
• 16:57
  Speaker 12: Yes, what he.
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: Was saying to me, that if I couldn't be bothered
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: to work, he's going to break my bones.
• 17:09
  Speaker 11: And he said to me that if I have plans
• 17:13
  Speaker 11: of running away, he could go to the forest and
• 17:15
  Speaker 11: I could dig a grave for me.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: The police believe there were 300 victims. More than 80
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: provided statements. It was no accident the slavers based themselves
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: in the heart of England.
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: The good thing about the area and why it helped
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: the traffickers in a way was that there was already
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: an established Polish community here When victims came into the country,
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: they would come via coach. Generally speaking, they were in
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: West Bromwich or Smethwick, close by to where the traffickers
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: were living. And also because of the motorway networks, the
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: M5 just on the doorstep and the M6, it was
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: easy for the victims to be transported down to London,
• 18:11
  Speaker 5: to Wales and other areas. There's affordable housing in these areas,
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: so the traffickers would be able to get as many
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: as 10, 12 victims into one house, a three- or
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: four-bedroom house, at a cost of about £ 500 a month.
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: All the things that they need are on their doorstep, basically.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: The slavers picked their targets carefully too. The desperate, those
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: with drug or alcohol problems, on the run from the
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: law and the homeless.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: At the time, I lived in Gdańsk, in Poland, and
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I could say that I was homeless, living in the
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: train station. A couple of gypsy people approached me, asking
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: me if I would like to go to the UK
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: to work and earn some money. As I was looking
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: for work at the time and needed money, I thought,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: why not? It could be a good possibility to get
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: out of Poland. I was penniless. I had nothing. I
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: was begging outside of the churches.
• 19:27
  Speaker 12: I've got a pending sentence in Poland for seven months.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: I know if I go back, I'll go straight to
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: prison and then back on the streets.
• 19:39
  Speaker 9: We are dealing with vulnerable people. When you are desperate
• 19:44
  Speaker 9: and someone offers you a solution, our complainants would bite
• 19:49
  Speaker 9: their hands off for this.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Bydgoszcz, northern Poland. An industrial city with both wealth and poverty.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: Many of the slaves came from here. DC Mike Wright
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: has come to see how they were ensnared.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: So we're going to where the victims' stories began. It's
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: going to be interesting to see the location, see if
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: there are any potential vulnerable people in the area.
• 20:38
  Speaker 9: Recruitment would take place around areas where homeless people were
• 20:42
  Speaker 9: attracted to. Train stations, homeless shelters, large shopping centres. And
• 20:50
  Speaker 9: those were the three main targets of area. There's no
• 20:52
  Speaker 9: single geographical area. The tentacles of this organisation spread far
• 20:56
  Speaker 9: and wide in Poland.
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: This is the Rondo shopping centre.
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: It's quite a landmark and it's probably about five or
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: ten minutes from the bus station.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: It's sort of ideal hunting ground for traffickers, really. You
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: speak English? Do you know where the coach station is? Bus? Inside?
• 21:17
  Speaker 10: OK.
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: We were only here for about 20 minutes this morning.
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: We saw a group of men outside the front by
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: the benches who were drinking and looked homeless, and they
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: were begging for food.
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: Hungry? You're hungry? Ah, right.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: Mike's worried these men could easily be exploited by new
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: gangs of slavers.
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: It's absolutely still going on. The risk versus the reward
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: is worth them doing it.
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: It's financially viable and there are plenty of people who
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: can be victimised. I haven't got a light, sorry. It's
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: evident that there are homeless people. They certainly fit the
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: demographic of the victims in the case. It's potentially a
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: really good place to recruit people.
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: Speak English?
• 22:09
  Speaker 10: No.
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't smoke. I don't speak that much English,
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: do you?
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: Once the slaves had been recruited, the traffickers put them
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: under pressure.
• 22:21
  Speaker 9: The technique used was making the travel to the UK
• 22:24
  Speaker 9: very quick. So we'd recruit someone on a Monday and
• 22:26
  Speaker 9: they'd be travelling on the Tuesday. and that would create
• 22:32
  Speaker 9: disorientation for the complainants because there was no one to
• 22:35
  Speaker 9: tell they'd gone.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: An opportunity has arisen.
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: This is a one-off.
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: Slaves were recruited from small towns as well as big cities.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: So we were taking in the car from my hometown
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to Bydgoszcz. Then they put us in rooms, kind of
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: like a basement, when they were sorting out our tickets
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: on the internet. We just got given the tickets and
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: were told to just give them to the driver. And
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: then we traveled for 19 hours straight to the UK.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: I met a woman, a Polish woman on the bus,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: who was telling me that she's been in the UK
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: for eight years and that it's very good, that life
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: is very nice.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: Bigosch bus station. Dozens of slaves were trafficked to the
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: UK from here.
• 23:29
  Speaker 13: What do you think was in the victims' heads when
• 23:33
  Speaker 13: they got on the bus here?
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: Looking forward to a better way of life.
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: They weren't necessarily thinking that the pavements of the UK
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: were lined with gold, but they just wanted a better
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: standard of living, a better wage, a job that they
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: could work at and.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: and earn a decent living.
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: They weren't expecting much, but what they were expecting was
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: just to be treated fairly, and.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: That's not what happened. Back in Birmingham, the trial has
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: now been running for two months.
• 24:12
  Speaker 4: OK, who needs feeding? Because I do.
• 24:15
  Speaker 9: Nick, what do you fancy?
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: Do you want a bagger? No, superfood style.
• 24:20
  Speaker 9: Come on, go daddy with me.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Once the slaves were in the UK, the traffickers controlled
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: their every move. Caroline must explain this systematic manipulation to
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: the jury.
• 24:33
  Speaker 9: You've got to show the whole chain because it seems
• 24:36
  Speaker 9: farcical that someone could buy into this utopian dream that
• 24:39
  Speaker 9: they were being offered repeatedly. So many people would buy
• 24:44
  Speaker 9: into that. I think we as people who are sitting
• 24:48
  Speaker 9: on the jury or who are involved in the process
• 24:49
  Speaker 9: need to educate people and others about how and why
• 24:53
  Speaker 9: did this happen.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: The slaves had been promised free travel, free accommodation and
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: £ 300 a week. The reality was different. They were paid
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: very little and charged for everything. Soon they were deep
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: in debt to their captors.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: After they came back with the shopping, they told us
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: that actually it looks a little bit different. They're going
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: to first discount from our future earnings the money for
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: the tickets and for accommodation and for the shopping. And
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: actually from a promise 50, 60 pounds a day, we
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: will get half only and they keep the other half.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: And I said, why? That wasn't the deal. And they said, well,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: that's the deal now.
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: What was your feeling when they said that to you?
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I was very unhappy and shocked, but I had no
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: money to go back. We had to make it work somehow,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: so we'll have to keep working to keep earning money.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: How could I feel when I was closed in that
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: vicious circle? I was promised that once I paid off
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: my debts, I could leave and I could just go
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: on my own way, but that never happened, so it
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: made me feel horrible.
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: Was there no chance to escape?
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I did really hope that things will straighten out, that
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: it will be better from week to week. But nothing
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: really was changing. And there was an insider, another Polish guy,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: living in the same conditions as us. But he must
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: have been getting some allowance to keep an eye on
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: us and reporting every move that we could possibly have
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: taken to do something about our situation.
• 27:02
  Speaker 7: Victims don't know their surroundings. They don't speak the language.
• 27:06
  Speaker 7: They might be told, if you leave, the police will
• 27:08
  Speaker 7: pick you up, beat you up. They'll fine you. They'll
• 27:11
  Speaker 7: deport you. And because these victims don't know any better,
• 27:15
  Speaker 7: they'll believe what the traffickers are saying, because they don't
• 27:18
  Speaker 7: know the level of exploitation at this stage. So that's
• 27:21
  Speaker 7: kind of what you might call the isolation phase, where
• 27:23
  Speaker 7: they isolate the individuals and show them that this is
• 27:28
  Speaker 7: the experience of a Polish worker in the UK.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: Once the traffickers had psychological control of the slaves, they
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: took control of their finances.
• 27:43
  Speaker 9: They'd be taken by one of the key people in
• 27:45
  Speaker 9: the organisation, often Marek Kovanić, who spoke excellent English, taken
• 27:49
  Speaker 9: to a bank. A bank account was opened in their name.
• 27:52
  Speaker 9: Most of the complainants spoke next to no English.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: We go to West Bromwich.
• 27:59
  Speaker 9: And we went to DSB Bank and we.
• 28:05
  Speaker 9: Managed to open their bank accounts.
• 28:07
  Speaker 7: And after that, we simply went to another bank to
• 28:10
  Speaker 7: open another bank account.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: So you think you have two bank accounts?
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: Yes, and the third one opened a month ago.
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: The slaves may have had bank accounts, but they had
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: no control over them.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Their name?
• 28:30
  Speaker 9: Would be given. Their identity card would be taken over
• 28:32
  Speaker 9: and photocopied, which is absolutely normal. But the address given
• 28:36
  Speaker 9: for the bank account bore no relation to where the
• 28:39
  Speaker 9: complainant was staying, but would be an address under the
• 28:41
  Speaker 9: control of the organisation.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: When it was set up, were you given a card
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: or any paperwork?
• 28:48
  Speaker 10: No.
• 28:48
  Speaker 12: I've never seen the card, you know, it's not come
• 28:51
  Speaker 12: to me.
• 28:58
  Speaker 14: I don't know which.
• 28:59
  Speaker 11: Address it was provided.
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: When the police raided the traffickers' homes, they found a Bentley,
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: designer clothing, cash and a stack of debit cards, as
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: well as evidence that showed they had control of 174
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: bank accounts. In total, police believed the gang had made
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: £ 2 million.
• 29:31
  Speaker 14: As you open that up, there is a significant quantity
• 29:35
  Speaker 14: of bank cards that are in other people's names.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: And if you turn those over.
• 29:40
  Speaker 14: you'll find that almost all of them have the PIN
• 29:45
  Speaker 14: written on the back of them. And that just ensures
• 29:47
  Speaker 14: that whoever's given that card can access any of the
• 29:50
  Speaker 14: funds from that account.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: Bank records show how the slavers siphoned off victims' cash.
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: Gang members were captured on CCTV making withdrawal after withdrawal
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: after withdrawal.
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: Generally speaking, if you use an ATM machine, probably make
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: one transaction, maybe two.
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: So how long was he in there for? Five minutes,
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: probably more.
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: We put in one card in after another, checking the balance,
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: withdrawing the cash, and then sorting out later. This is
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: in the early stages of the investigation, before anybody had
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: been arrested at this point.
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: Then we see him leave the branch.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: Several high street banks were targeted by the gang. They
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: opened 72 accounts at TSB.
• 30:40
  Speaker 9: No real asking of questions ever took place. It seemed
• 30:44
  Speaker 9: to be quite normal for someone else to act as
• 30:47
  Speaker 9: the interpreter without ever kind of questioning, why are you
• 30:51
  Speaker 9: acting as the interpreter? Do we have someone else who's
• 30:52
  Speaker 9: a Polish speaker? Bearing in mind this all took place
• 30:55
  Speaker 9: in West Bromwich, in the same high street, and the
• 30:58
  Speaker 9: same person over and over again coming in.
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: Getting bank accounts for the slaves was one thing. Getting
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: them jobs was quite another. The solution was to use
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: moles inside employment agencies. Moles like Juliana Hodakiewicz. She got
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: a job at eResponse in Worcestershire, now renamed Workforce Solutions.
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: She was specifically dealing with the traffickers to bring the
• 31:28
  Speaker 5: victims into work. So she would even say that if
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: somebody came into e-response who wasn't sent by the traffickers,
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: she would turn them away so that there were free
• 31:39
  Speaker 5: jobs for the victims. It's quite vindictive, really, to do
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: that to people from your own country. But she was
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: making money, so I think it's just a greed issue.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: Juliana's handler and close friend was senior gang member Marek Hovanić.
• 32:01
  Speaker 9: On the morning of her first day, Marek Hovanić sent
• 32:06
  Speaker 9: her a list of names of people he controlled for
• 32:08
  Speaker 9: her to register at the agency. And because Juliana was there,
• 32:13
  Speaker 9: she enabled huge numbers of people all living at the
• 32:15
  Speaker 9: same address to be registered. That would normally, where there's
• 32:19
  Speaker 9: proper processes in place, be picked up, you know, flag
• 32:22
  Speaker 9: markers for sharing the same address. So her inside knowledge
• 32:25
  Speaker 9: facilitated extraordinary numbers of people going through. She enabled them
• 32:30
  Speaker 9: to be slicker because they could literally put people in
• 32:33
  Speaker 9: work the minute they arrived in the UK. This was
• 32:36
  Speaker 9: guaranteed employment and guaranteed immediately.
• 32:43
  Speaker 3: There's a huge demand for unskilled labour. Sandfields Farm in
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: Warwickshire supplies some of the UK's leading supermarkets. It fell
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: victim to the slavers, despite going to great lengths to
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: hire legitimate workers.
• 33:01
  Speaker 10: Most of our labour we recruit directly from Bulgaria and Romania.
• 33:05
  Speaker 10: We actually go out there on the ground. We send
• 33:07
  Speaker 10: our HR teams out there. We get involved in the
• 33:11
  Speaker 10: interview process. So we're checking, you know, we're actually getting
• 33:15
  Speaker 10: to know the people from the point of interview. We
• 33:18
  Speaker 10: do use a small number of agency workers for peak periods.
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: Christmas, etc., The agency Sandfields used was E-Response, where Juliana
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: Chodakiewicz was working. One of the slaves employed at Sandfields
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: for two days was Piotr Pawski. He was shuttled to
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: work by his captors. When he complained, one of them
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: took him and another slave for a drive.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: He was really, really annoyed. He asked us to get
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: in the car, so there were no witnesses. And he
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: told us that he found out we wanted to escape.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: He said, yes, you can escape, but I can't guarantee
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: in what state. You can just go to the forest
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: and dig the hole for yourselves, or you'll be driven
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: around in a boot like a sack of potatoes.
• 34:20
  Speaker 10: That is horrific to hear that. I'm saddened that victims
• 34:24
  Speaker 10: of modern day slavery employed by an agency ended up
• 34:27
  Speaker 10: working in one of our businesses. Because what we really
• 34:29
  Speaker 10: need to do is try and make sure this stops,
• 34:33
  Speaker 10: not just in our business.
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: But in the whole industry. At Birmingham Crown Court, Juliana
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: Hodakiewicz is claiming there's nothing wrong with her friend Marek
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: paying her a commission to get slaves jobs.
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: What are our thoughts on her so far? Just not
• 34:54
  Speaker 4: coming across as very credible. OK.
• 34:56
  Speaker 14: And it's nice that she uses the word commission because that's,
• 35:00
  Speaker 14: in fact, that's what she's doing.
• 35:02
  Speaker 9: She's taking a backhander.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: But by trying to use the word commission, she's trying.
• 35:06
  Speaker 14: To make it sound like it's a legitimate source of
• 35:10
  Speaker 14: income that she's entitled to receive.
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: She's not. You've got to remember, our judge was an
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: employment practitioner.
• 35:17
  Speaker 9: So her knowledge of this far surpasses any of the
• 35:19
  Speaker 9: rest of us. She understands the minutiae issues underlying all
• 35:23
  Speaker 9: of this in a way that none of us do.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: OK, team, thank you. Keep prodding me. I'll ask for
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: a break at three. Go for a little bit, then.
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: Cool stumps. For their own protection, the slaves rescued by
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: Operation Fort were moved to cities at least two hours
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: away from Birmingham, where they were looked after by the
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: Salvation Army. It has a government contract to care for
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: the victims of human trafficking across England and Wales. 3,354
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: last year, and rising.
• 36:04
  Speaker 15: This is a safe house run by the Salvation Army
• 36:07
  Speaker 15: to support adult victims of modern slavery.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: This safe house is one of dozens run by the charity.
• 36:16
  Speaker 15: We receive referrals from every single part of the UK,
• 36:21
  Speaker 15: and that is towns, villages and cities, affluent areas, poor areas.
• 36:26
  Speaker 15: There's no discrimination from the sort of places that people
• 36:30
  Speaker 15: can be exploited in.
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: It wasn't easy for the former slaves to trust the
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: people now looking after them.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: It took me a very long time to actually start
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: talking about it and open up. It took about a
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: month and a half. I was in Dover at the time,
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: and this woman asked me if I need to talk
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: about it, what happened to me. Should I speak to
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: the police, really? And I thought that is the best idea,
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: so I can testify and talk about people who brought
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: me here, who were to blame for all this.
• 37:12
  Speaker 15: They might come with untreated injuries, with no documents, with
• 37:16
  Speaker 15: the clothes they're standing up in and nothing more. They've
• 37:20
  Speaker 15: come out of a horrendous ordeal and their faith in
• 37:24
  Speaker 15: mankind has been really shaken. So although the nice people
• 37:28
  Speaker 15: from the Salvation Army are saying we're going to help you,
• 37:30
  Speaker 15: it might take a little bit of time to build
• 37:32
  Speaker 15: that trust and for us to really make them feel that, yes,
• 37:35
  Speaker 15: right now you are safe and you're with people that
• 37:37
  Speaker 15: are going to help.
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: Mariusz Rykaczewski had been held by the slave gang for
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: four months. As a former soldier in the French Foreign Legion,
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: he was better equipped than most to cope. But he
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: became a target when he tried to escape. The criminal,
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: he beat me in my ribs and.
• 38:07
  Speaker 10: I have black eyes.
• 38:10
  Speaker 9: Sometime I sleeping with big knife because I afraid they
• 38:16
  Speaker 9: come back again.
• 38:19
  Speaker 15: What happened to Marius is extremely typical where one individual
• 38:23
  Speaker 15: might be singled out and actually physically assaulted as an
• 38:28
  Speaker 15: example to.
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: The other guys.
• 38:29
  Speaker 15: And unfortunately for Marius, he was that man.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: I think he was seen to.
• 38:34
  Speaker 15: Be a potential threat and a potential runner. And he
• 38:38
  Speaker 15: was beaten up several times, and that's a threat to everybody.
• 38:42
  Speaker 15: You step out of line, this could happen to you.
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: Once the slaves are safe, the police try to persuade
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: them to give evidence in court.
• 38:53
  Speaker 15: I think it's very difficult to give evidence for a
• 38:54
  Speaker 15: number of reasons. They are going to relive what was
• 38:57
  Speaker 15: an extremely traumatic experience where their freedom was taken away
• 39:02
  Speaker 15: from them and they were living in really, really difficult situations.
• 39:06
  Speaker 15: And then the fear of the perpetrators, the organized nature
• 39:10
  Speaker 15: of this crime and the fact that it spreads through
• 39:13
  Speaker 15: criminal networks is pretty scary because you are stepping out
• 39:18
  Speaker 15: and you just don't know where you might come across
• 39:20
  Speaker 15: these people again.
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: Mariusz, like many of the slaves, has a criminal past.
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: He fled Poland after being convicted of burglarcy. He's the
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: subject of a European arrest warrant. Defence lawyers will use
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: this to attack his credibility.
• 39:41
  Speaker 9: And what would our position be in relation to questions
• 39:43
  Speaker 9: being put about that, Caroline, if I disclose this now?
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: I think it's being convicted already.
• 39:48
  Speaker 9: If it's a conviction warrant, well, then, yes, that's admissible.
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, if it's dishonesty, yes.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it will be. I'm looking at his accro.
• 39:55
  Speaker 9: I do accept that the dishonesty matters must go in
• 39:58
  Speaker 9: because the whole question is the credibility of the witnesses.
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: Oh, absolutely.
• 40:02
  Speaker 9: If he's got a previous conviction, and this EAW is
• 40:05
  Speaker 9: in relation to the service of that conviction, which I
• 40:07
  Speaker 9: understand it effectively is.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: Well, then it must be disclosed.
• 40:11
  Speaker 9: But putting it globally, I don't really see the problem
• 40:15
  Speaker 9: with it because our position has always been. And one
• 40:18
  Speaker 9: of the complainants even said he was specifically targeting people
• 40:21
  Speaker 9: who came out of prison, people who are homeless.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: So, of course, yeah, double edged.
• 40:26
  Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. The defense is perfectly entitled to run
• 40:30
  Speaker 9: whatever case they choose to. One of the defenses being
• 40:34
  Speaker 9: run is that all of these people are lying. My
• 40:38
  Speaker 9: job is to show that these individuals are credible because
• 40:43
  Speaker 9: you don't get 82 people telling the same story who
• 40:45
  Speaker 9: don't know each other. You know, forgive me for quoting
• 40:49
  Speaker 9: Oscar Wilde, one is unfortunate, two is plain unlucky. What's 82?
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: Extraordinary.
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: After victims have given their evidence, Caroline thanks each one personally.
• 41:07
  Speaker 9: I just want you to know how grateful we are
• 41:08
  Speaker 9: for you coming.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: No, it's okay. It is okay.
• 41:11
  Speaker 9: Giving evidence is not as bad as everyone thinks, is it?
• 41:13
  Speaker 9: Well done in telling your story and getting that part
• 41:17
  Speaker 9: of your life back because now you own it. Okay?
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: You did really well.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: So thank you.
• 41:24
  Speaker 10: You're welcome.
• 41:25
  Speaker 9: It has been a privilege and a pleasure meeting you.
• 41:26
  Speaker 10: You're welcome. Thank you.
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: It's 4.30am in Bourneville.
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: Suki, have you been told what the crack is with
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: the address, what we're doing?
• 41:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: DC Mike writes, looking for the gang member who skipped
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: bail and went on the run three months ago.
• 41:55
  Speaker 5: An anonymous tip came forward to say that he may
• 41:58
  Speaker 5: be at this address. In December last year, officers visited.
• 42:03
  Speaker 5: There was up to four Romanian nationals living there who
• 42:07
  Speaker 5: were potential victims of trafficking. but didn't want to come
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: forward at the time. We haven't got a warrant, so
• 42:12
  Speaker 5: it's literally knock the door. If he's not there, deal
• 42:18
  Speaker 5: with what we find, basically, when we're there.
• 42:20
  Speaker 4: Right, let's go. Caffeine it.
• 42:28
  Speaker 5: The inquiry's been ongoing for three years, and pursuing people
• 42:32
  Speaker 5: who've done a runner makes life quite complicated. They're obviously
• 42:37
  Speaker 5: probably quite savvy to... Some of the techniques we use
• 42:41
  Speaker 5: will be changing their phone numbers and moving around quite
• 42:47
  Speaker 5: a lot. So it's really just about trying to strike
• 42:53
  Speaker 5: whilst the iron's hot, so to speak. Dan, if you
• 42:55
  Speaker 5: could just go just sort of around the back, just
• 42:58
  Speaker 5: down that way, and we'll let you know.
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: Hello?
• 43:21
  Speaker 13: The police?
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: OK, there's nothing to worry about. We're just here to
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: see if there's somebody at the address, that's all. Is
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: this your room in here?
• 43:27
  Speaker 10: Yeah?
• 43:27
  Speaker 4: OK.
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: Give us a chock here, mate, just in case.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: Where are you, mate?
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: Just down here.
• 43:29
  Speaker 3: The gang member isn't here. The rooms are crammed with
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: people who don't speak English. Mike is suspicious.
• 43:53
  Speaker 6: There's two eyes in there.
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: You OK if we come in here?
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: Ah, no lights.
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: How many's in there? Two. Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.
• 44:07
  Speaker 10: It's like a.
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 44:09
  Speaker 4: There's some elements of it which are obviously dodged, but
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: by and large, I think.
• 44:12
  Speaker 5: It's unmanageable, really, isn't it, in terms of the amount
• 44:14
  Speaker 5: of people.
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: Who are here?
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: It's full of food, there's all boxes of cuts of
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: veg outside, they've all got ID, they've all got bank cards. Yeah,
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: just basic details, mate, yeah. OK, thank you very much.
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: Thank you. Take care.
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: The case will be logged for intelligence purposes. This team
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: don't have the resources for another criminal investigation.
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 44:39
  Speaker 5: It's highly likely that some form of exploitation is going on,
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: but we simply cannot look into further human trafficking investigations
• 44:50
  Speaker 5: involving different communities whilst this investigation is going on.
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: After four months, the trial is finally drawing to a conclusion.
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: Caroline is working on her closing speech. It's the last
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: chance she'll have to remind the jury of the evidence
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: given in court by more than 60 slaves.
• 45:16
  Speaker 9: Those 60 plus people from whom you have heard have
• 45:19
  Speaker 9: consistently described to you the same thing. Often homeless, self-admitted
• 45:23
  Speaker 9: addicts or recently released from prison. All united by desperation
• 45:27
  Speaker 9: to work. All describe how they were recruited. The lies
• 45:33
  Speaker 9: and deceit on which they were beguiled into coming into
• 45:35
  Speaker 9: the United Kingdom. The same story about what happened on
• 45:40
  Speaker 9: their arrival in the UK, who met them.
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: Where they were taken.
• 45:46
  Speaker 9: The same story about how they were moved from place
• 45:48
  Speaker 9: to place without notice, filthy, overcrowded, pest-ridden conditions, little or
• 45:53
  Speaker 9: no food, and abuse, both mental and physical. 60-plus people
• 45:59
  Speaker 9: who all came to the UK with one purpose, to
• 46:02
  Speaker 9: earn a living, to work hard, to receive a wage
• 46:05
  Speaker 9: for that work. 60 plus people linked only by their
• 46:09
  Speaker 9: treatment at the hands of these defendants and the others
• 46:11
  Speaker 9: mentioned on the indictment. Their guilt betrayed by their words
• 46:15
  Speaker 9: and their actions. Of that, we the Crown say you,
• 46:20
  Speaker 9: on each count that they face, can be quite sure.
• 46:22
  Speaker 9: We therefore urge you to return verdicts of guilty.
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: So that's it.
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: So you're reasonably confident? I'm never confident.
• 46:36
  Speaker 9: I'm confident that we have presented this case in the
• 46:38
  Speaker 9: best possible manner and that we have done what we
• 46:41
  Speaker 9: can for the complainants to tell their stories and that
• 46:44
  Speaker 9: we have demonstrated the flaws in the defences being raised,
• 46:49
  Speaker 9: where they are being raised. So, to that degree, I'm confident.
• 46:53
  Speaker 9: But what the verdict will be, I have no clue,
• 46:55
  Speaker 9: because who knows what goes on in the room.
• 47:03
  Speaker 3: It's now time for Caroline to deliver her speech to
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: the jury.
• 47:08
  Speaker 9: OK.
• 47:11
  Speaker 15: Right.
• 47:18
  Speaker 9: Thank you, team.
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: Right, well.
• 47:33
  Speaker 9: Before I go in, I just want to say, team,
• 47:35
  Speaker 9: I think you have done an incredible job in all
• 47:38
  Speaker 9: the circumstances. I hope I don't let you down. It's
• 47:41
  Speaker 9: beyond our control now. But whatever verdicts they come back with,
• 47:45
  Speaker 9: the whole process of giving evidence is a game changer
• 47:47
  Speaker 9: for these guys.
• 47:48
  Speaker 4: OK. Thank you, team.
• 47:51
  Speaker 9: You are fabulous. Good luck.
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: You'll be amazing.
• 48:07
  Speaker 9: Ah, great.
• 48:17
  Speaker 13: So what do you feel has been taken from you
• 48:21
  Speaker 13: by this whole experience?
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: I felt very used. I felt horrible being used by
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: gypsy people here in the UK. I didn't even know
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: that something like that could have taken place.
• 48:38
  Speaker 4: It's hard.
• 48:38
  Speaker 11: I wouldn't want to work for it.
• 48:40
  Speaker 12: It's hard to remember what.
• 48:49
  Speaker 4: Happened. I'd like to forget it, but it's very hard.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: It's very hard for me. I really don't want to
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: talk about it and think about it anymore. It's too hard.
• 49:15
  Speaker 13: How important is it to you that the people who
• 49:18
  Speaker 13: did this to you are brought to justice?
• 49:19
  Speaker 12: It's important to me for them to stop hurting people.
• 49:28
  Speaker 12: To stop having control over other people and control over
• 49:36
  Speaker 12: their money.
• 49:40
  Speaker 7: Here we go.
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 49:46
  Speaker 4: Oh, it's not a hand.
• 49:49
  Speaker 13: And we've received verdicts in respect of all defendants on
• 49:52
  Speaker 13: all counts.
• 49:53
  Speaker 3: Important thing I've got to do now is phone Caroline.
• 49:58
  Speaker 13: Hey, can you hear me?
• 50:00
  Speaker 6: I can.
• 50:01
  Speaker 11: Oh, my God.
• 50:02
  Speaker 13: So, yeah.
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: Can you type that email?
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: No.
• 50:05
  Speaker 13: Sorry, yeah, I didn't miss type the email, no. So, yeah,
• 50:09
  Speaker 13: guilty on all counts, all defendants. Everyone's been remanded in
• 50:13
  Speaker 13: custody over lunch. We're going back in at three for
• 50:16
  Speaker 13: any bail applications. I don't know if anyone is making one.
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: Michelle and Mike are here. Yeah, it was very, very dramatic, really.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: Tell me what happened.
• 50:27
  Speaker 13: They'd been told earlier that they could go home early today.
• 50:30
  Speaker 13: And all had nodded enthusiastically, which had led us all
• 50:33
  Speaker 13: to believe that they were miles away from the decision.
• 50:36
  Speaker 3: And then literally, was it 20 minutes later?
• 50:38
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 50:38
  Speaker 13: 25 minutes later.
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: Just, I'm verdicts on all counts.
• 50:42
  Speaker 4: There was no.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: Really out of the blue.
• 50:44
  Speaker 4: Well, can I just say.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: Team, I am so proud of you all.
• 50:50
  Speaker 9: Oh, my God.
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: It's been worth the hell. I'm slightly in shock.
• 50:54
  Speaker 4: If I'm honest. Yeah. I haven't said more than two
• 50:57
  Speaker 4: words yet.
• 50:58
  Speaker 11: I don't know about anyone else, but.
• 51:00
  Speaker 9: I think I'm going to dive myself headfirst into a
• 51:02
  Speaker 9: bucket of champagne.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: Sounds like a good idea to me.
• 51:05
  Speaker 9: Either that or rhubarb gin, or maybe both simultaneously.
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: It'd make for a sticky mess, but I really don't care. Blimey.
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: I was not expecting that today.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: No, nor me.
• 51:30
  Speaker 3: The five gang members convicted in the first trial are
• 51:33
  Speaker 3: sentenced between them to 35 years behind bars. Later, the
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: three other members, including family elder Ignacy Brzezinski, are also convicted.
• 51:48
  Speaker 3: They get a total of 20 years. Back in Poland,
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: DC Mike Wright is trying to track down some of
• 52:03
  Speaker 3: the £ 2 million the slavers made by exploiting the vulnerable.
• 52:06
  Speaker 9: 64.
• 52:08
  Speaker 5: Which appears to be that sort of pink-coloured building just there.
• 52:21
  Speaker 4: What, the one on the end?
• 52:22
  Speaker 15: Yeah.
• 52:23
  Speaker 4: Ignacy described a block of flats.
• 52:26
  Speaker 5: Not just a single flat, but the block. So I
• 52:29
  Speaker 5: assume that that building is it.
• 52:32
  Speaker 3: If the police can prove the traffickers' own properties, they
• 52:36
  Speaker 3: may be able to seize them.
• 52:49
  Speaker 4: That's definitely the right address. It certainly looks like a
• 52:52
  Speaker 4: Brzezinski property.
• 52:53
  Speaker 5: It's quite.
• 52:55
  Speaker 4: extravagantly decorated, gold-framed.
• 52:59
  Speaker 5: Mirrors, much like the inside of where Ignacy and Justina
• 53:02
  Speaker 5: lived in West Bromwich.
• 53:03
  Speaker 4: So what would the plan with a property like that be?
• 53:05
  Speaker 3: How do you approach it?
• 53:07
  Speaker 5: If we can show that he owns the property, it's
• 53:10
  Speaker 5: something that we can seize with the help of the
• 53:12
  Speaker 5: poles and recover.
• 53:23
  Speaker 4: So we're going to go to.
• 53:25
  Speaker 5: A property that Justyna Parcheska has come out and told
• 53:29
  Speaker 5: us that belongs to her, presumably because she knew we'd
• 53:32
  Speaker 5: be making the relevant checks and so it was in
• 53:34
  Speaker 5: her interest to be honest about her ownership of that property.
• 53:49
  Speaker 5: It does seem like quite a nice area. Some of
• 53:52
  Speaker 5: these look like they're relatively newly developed. They could own
• 53:57
  Speaker 5: other properties in this particular area as well.
• 54:00
  Speaker 4: Is there any way of getting to the bottom of
• 54:01
  Speaker 4: what they do actually own?
• 54:03
  Speaker 5: If we can work closely with the Polish authorities, we're
• 54:07
  Speaker 5: hoping that we should be able to have better access
• 54:10
  Speaker 5: to the Polish authorities' systems and establishing what kind of
• 54:15
  Speaker 5: assets these people have.
• 54:17
  Speaker 4: I think it's the second one on the right that
• 54:19
  Speaker 4: we're just coming up to now. It's worth about £ 80, 000, which.
• 54:25
  Speaker 5: I'm not really sure how that compares to the rest
• 54:27
  Speaker 5: of the property market in Poland, but for a family
• 54:30
  Speaker 5: who have no legitimate source of income, it's obviously a
• 54:33
  Speaker 5: lot of money, and more likely than not it's come
• 54:36
  Speaker 5: from their ill-gotten gains.
• 54:44
  Speaker 3: The slavers caught by Operation Fort will be behind bars
• 54:48
  Speaker 3: for years. The police don't believe they've solved the problem.
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: but they do hope this case will draw attention to
• 54:57
  Speaker 3: the true scale of it.
• 55:00
  Speaker 7: It is a crime in plain sight. There are people
• 55:04
  Speaker 7: whose next-door neighbours will be victims of trafficking. There are
• 55:07
  Speaker 7: people who will have their car washed by a victim
• 55:09
  Speaker 7: of human trafficking. People who have a parcel delivered that
• 55:13
  Speaker 7: has come through a parcel depot staffed by victims of
• 55:16
  Speaker 7: human trafficking.
• 55:18
  Speaker 4: It is everywhere.
• 55:19
  Speaker 7: We probably touch, receive, buy something that has gone through
• 55:25
  Speaker 7: the victim of human trafficking every day.
• 55:30
  Speaker 9: Modern slavery is an endemic problem, not just in the
• 55:32
  Speaker 9: United Kingdom, but worldwide. The statistics are that 42 million
• 55:36
  Speaker 9: people are victims of it. That's the combined population of
• 55:40
  Speaker 9: New York, London and Tokyo. We can't stop this. Not immediately,
• 55:47
  Speaker 9: but we can try and we can educate and we
• 55:51
  Speaker 9: can make a change and we can send a message.
• 55:53
  Speaker 9: And the message is we will not tolerate this behavior here.
• 55:59
  Speaker 3: The slaves who testified in court may now be physically free,
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: but they can't escape the memory of what happened to them.
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: They got big sentences, which is great. But I know
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: they're seeking revenge. And for the rest of my life,
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: I will be looking back, worried that they will find
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: me and they will kill me. Do you think you'll
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: ever be free of it? I hope so. But it's
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: stuck in my mind. I took part of this program
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: because I hope there won't be any more cases like mine.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: And I want people around to be a bit more
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: sensitive towards what's been happening. I would love to just
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: put an end to this and just end the human trafficking.
• 57:33
  Speaker 4: Thank you for watching. Thank you.