The UK's largest-ever modern slavery ring – which forced more than 400 people to work for as little as 50p a day – has been broken and its ringleaders convicted.
Following two trials, five men and three women, all originally from Poland, were convicted of modern slavery offences and money laundering.
The gang, led by the Brzezinski family, preyed on homeless people, ex-prisoners and alcoholics, also from Poland.
Their targets were trafficked to the UK after being offered good money, but instead were housed in squalor.
Some of them were desperate for money to pay for family members' medical care.
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Living conditions were "horrible", one victim said. "I would say some homeless people here in the UK live better than I lived after I arrived over here," he added.
Victims aged from 17 to over 60 were housed in at least nine addresses in the West Midlands, up to four to a room, were fed out-of-date food and had to scavenge for mattresses to sleep on.
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Some of the properties did not have working toilets, heating or furniture. One man washed in a canal because he had no other access to water.
If victims complained, they would be humiliated, threatened or beaten up, while "house spies" kept an eye on them.
They were put to work on farms, at rubbish recycling centres and poultry factories.
The gang registered them for National Insurance, opened bank accounts in their names using bogus addresses, and claimed benefits without their knowledge.
Despite being here legally, the traffickers convinced the victims that was not the case, and that if they left their accommodation they would be arrested.
One worker, who was redecorating a house, was given coffee and a chicken as payment.
In contrast, their criminal masters earned £2m, wore lavish clothes and drove luxury cars, including a Bentley.
The accounts of more than 90 victims were heard by jurors, but it is believed that at least 350 more were exploited by the gang.
The operation was finally stopped after victims were uncovered by anti-slavery charity Hope for Justice, which said 51 victims eventually made contact at two drop-in centres.
At the end of the second case last month, a jury at Birmingham Crown Court convicted two men, 52-year-old Ignacy Brzezinski, from West Bromwich, and Wojciech Nowakowski, 41, from Birmingham, of modern slavery offences.
A third, Jan Sadowski, 26, from West Bromwich, admitted his part on the trial's first day.
At a previous trial ending in February, leading conspirator Marek Chowanic, 30, along with Ignacy's cousin, Marek Brzezinski, 50, recruitment consultant Julianna Chodakiewicz, 24, Natalia Zmuda, 29, and Justyna Parczewska, 48, the group's matriRead More – Source
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