Slave for 25 years in a house in England. The nightmare of a woman held captive: “It was like being in a concentration camp”
A vulnerable woman was held captive and forced to work in a family's home in England for a quarter of a century. He managed to call for help only in 2021, using a mobile phone that he had secretly hidden.
A vulnerable woman was held captive in nightmarish conditions PHOTO: X/ @glosnewscentre
A 56-year-old British mother of ten has been found guilty of a series of shocking abuses after keeping a woman in her own home as a slave for 25 years, the Daily Mail reports. The judge described the case as having a “almost Dickensian quality” and announced that a prison sentence is “a certainty”.
Amanda Wixon agreed to take the victim in for a weekend in 1996 when she was a student, but the woman never left and remained captive until 2021 when she managed to call for help with a hidden phone.
The shocking discovery of the police
When police arrived at the home, they found the victim, now in her 40s, bruised, toothless and sleeping in a musty, damp room described as looking like “a prison cell”. The footage showed her thin, scared and unkempt. The woman told officers she hadn't washed in over a year.
On Tuesday, Wixon was found guilty of several offences, including assault, deprivation of liberty and forcing a person to do forced labour. Judge Ian Lawrie KC granted him conditional discharge pending sentencing in March, but pointed out that jail was “a certainty“.
“Disappeared from society”
Prosecutor Samuel Jones said the victim, a vulnerable woman, basically “disappeared” from society. She was strictly controlled, rarely allowed to leave the house, forced to beg for food, denied the opportunity to wash or receive medical care, and forced to clean for hours, often on her knees.
Video source: X/ @itvwestcountry
The woman said that she was frequently assaulted, that she was hit, pushed down the stairs, strangled and forced to cut her hair, and that the other children in the house did not do the same jobs as her. “She was kept in the house and prevented from leaving, she was assaulted and beaten many, many times and forced to work under the threat of violence. She was denied food and the opportunity to wash herself for many years”said the prosecutor.
The court heard there were no medical or dental records for the victim and she had not seen a doctor for almost 20 years. “By the end of the 90s, it seems like this woman disappeared into a black hole”the prosecution added.
Neighbors and the aftermath of abuse
Neighbors said that at first they saw her in the garden, then “missing.” One recounted: “I thought he moved, but he must have been in the house all along”. Another described her as looking “like something out of a concentration camp“.
After being rescued, the victim had nightmares and symptoms of trauma. A doctor found large calluses on her ankles from years spent scrubbing floors on her knees, and a dentist said she must have been in extreme pain from her broken teeth.
Since her release, her condition has improved. After receiving dentures, “became extremely emotional when she saw herself with teeth for the first time in many years”. The prosecutor said that now “she can go out, eat well, gain weight, grow her hair the way she always wanted, even go back to college”.
The defense and the verdict
The defense argued that the charges are “a tale of fantasy and lies” and that the idea that the victim was “kept closed like an animal” is not true. Wixon has denied the abuse, saying he never stopped her from leaving and told her to wash up, but “he couldn't force her.”
The court found her guilty of two counts of forced labour, one count of deprivation of liberty and three counts of assault causing bodily harm. She was acquitted of another count of assault.
As he left court, Wixon showed no sign of remorse. Asked if she wanted to apologize to the victim, she replied: “Why should I apologize for something I never did?”.
