By James Simons
Travellers across Britain are guilty of modern day slavery, according to a judge .
British travellers are exploiting thousands of victims of modern slavery “on a shocking scale”, a scale to which the British public must now be awoken to after several members of a travelling family were jailed for modern day slavery.
Eleven members of the Rooney family were sentenced at Nottingham crown court on Tuesday for the exploitation of vulnerable men and women. The culprits were jailed for up to 15 years for exploiting 18 victims and using them for modern day slavery Police believe modern slavery and human trafficking is far more prevalent than previously thought, estimating the number of victims estimated to be in the tens of thousands.
Over 300 live policing operations in the UK targeting modern slavery, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA), which said there were 111 arrests in May and June related to 130 potential victims. Victims are usually from eastern Europe, Vietnam and Nigeria, with a roughly equal number of men and women, according to the NCA.
The investigation into the Rooney family by Lincolnshire police was one the biggest operations of its kind. Eleven people were jailed on Tuesday for up to 15 years for exploiting at least 18 victims of modern slavery, including one for 26 years, in offences the judge described as “chilling in their mercilessness”
The victims were either homeless or had learning disabilities, and were taken from the streets to work for the family’s tarmacking business. They were kept in caravans without running water or toilet facilities, whilst their captors wore Rolex watches, drove expensive cars and lived in homes that were “palatial in comparison” with their workers’ conditions. One of the victims was held captive for 25 years and eventually made to dig his own grave in what comprised violence described as ”insidious and ever present”.
HOMELESS
Typical victims were either homeless, alcoholics or had mental health problems, and were often found outside hostels or night shelters. Their victims, aged between 18 and 63, were lured with promises of work, money, shelter and food, the court heard.
Once taken to Drinsey Nook, they were put up in “broken-down, ill-equipped and dirty” caravans without heating. They were then put to work laying tarmacked drives, “dawn to dusk, seven days a week in all weather” and usually without a break, and only rarely were they given food or drink, the judge said.
Travellers’ groups reacted angrily to the judge’s remarks. “The judge’s fears that this is a general issue are not founded in fact,” Bill Forrester of the National Association of Gypsy and Traveller Officers said in a statement.
Forrester said he knew of “three or four” cases involving Travellers’ sites that have resulted in modern slavery charges in the past five years.
“Our over 100 members are responsible for the management of socially rented sites, containing nearly 7,000 caravans, across much of England, and we can confirm that this is not something suspected to be occurring on any but a tiny handful of such sites, and those are likely to be subject to investigations,” he said.
“According to local authority-collected government data, there were, in January of this year, 12,276 caravans on privately owned sites, and the vast majority of these are occupied by families who are just as outraged by modern-day slavery as the vast majority of the non-Traveller communities. There is widespread awareness that this can be an issue, and many staff have been trained to identify and deal with it.”
“It may be that society and government have been slow to wake up to this pernicious wrongdoing, but society and government have woken up. The relevant law, now known as the modern slavery legislation, came into force in 2010 and the jury’s verdict made it crystal clear that society regards what was going on [at] Drinsey as completely unacceptable,” Spencer said. The case has undoubtedly tarnished the image and reputation of travellers, but facts require that only those responsible for such offences deserve to be stigmatised.