Members of a Polish human-trafficking ring with links to recycling sites in the West Midlands have been handed jail sentences of between three and 11 years in what has been described as the UK’s largest modern slavery conviction.
Three people were sentenced on Friday (5 July) at Birmingham Crown Court, following the imprisonment of five others earlier this year.
The last of the group was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday (5 July)
According to the Crown Prosecution Service, the group lured hundreds of victims from Poland to Birmingham with the promise of free accommodation and well-paid employment.
Victims were housed in “cramped, substandard” accommodation and were paid as little as £20-40 per week for working 12-hour days in jobs including food processing and in recycling plants.
Hope for Justice
West Midlands Police began its investigation after a tip-off from the charity Hope for Justice, which noticed an increasing number of Polish people attending one of its soup kitchens.
Mark Paul, Head of Complex Casework Unit, CPS West Midlands, said: “This is the largest modern slavery prosecution of its kind in the UK and perhaps in Europe.
“The scale of the operation was truly staggering, with millions of pounds netted by the crime group as a result of their callous and systematic exploitation of vulnerable members of the Polish community.
“88 victims came forward but the investigation revealed in excess of 300 other probable victims. Vulnerable men and women were recruited off the streets in Poland with the promise of a better life, only to be cruelly exploited and trapped into a desperate cycle of dependency with nowhere else to go.”
Sentences from the two trials were divided as follows:
Trial 1:
- Marek Chowanec, aged 30. (DOB: 12/12/1992) Total of 11 years’ imprisonment: trafficking into the UK (four years’ imprisonment), trafficking into the UK (nine years’ imprisonment), trafficking within the UK (11 years), conspiracy to require another to perform forced labour (seven years), conspiracy to require another to perform forced labour (11 years), money laundering (seven years)
- Marek Brzezinski, aged 29. (DOB: 01/01/1990) Total of nine years’ imprisonment: trafficking into the UK (five years’ imprisonment), trafficking into the UK (seven years’ imprisonment), trafficking within the UK (seven years), trafficking into the UK (nine years), conspiracy to require another to perform forced labour (seven years), conspiracy to require another to perform forced labour (nine years), money laundering (six years)
- Julianna Chodakiewicz, aged 29. (DOB: 01/01/1990) Total of 5½ years: conspiracy to require another to perform forced labour (five years), conspiracy to require another to perform forced labour (five years six months), money laundering (five years).
- Natalia Zmuda, aged 29. (DOB: 01/01/1990) Total of four years six months: (trafficking into the UK (three years), trafficking within the UK (four years), trafficking within the UK (four years six months), conspiracy to require another to perform forced labour (four years), conspiracy to require another to perform forced labour (four years six months), money laundering (three years)
- Justyna Parczewska, aged 48. (DOB: 02/09/1970) Total of five years’ imprisonment: conspiracy to require another to perform forced labour (five years), conspiracy to require another to perform forced labour (five years), money laundering (five years)
- Slavery trafficking risk orders imposed for nine years following release
Trial 2:
- Ignacy Brzezinski, aged 53. (DOB: 16/09/1965) 11 years’ imprisonment for each of four charges, six years for one charge, all to run concurrently. Total of 11 years
- Wojciech Nowakowski, aged 42. (DOB: 25/08/1976) Six-and-a-half years for each of three charges, two years for one charge, all to run concurrently. Total of six-and-a-half years
- Jan Pawal Sadowski, aged 29. (DOB: 01/01/1990) Three years for each of three charges, to run concurrently. Total of three years.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
