Son who kept man as 'slave' in filthy 6ft shed with no light for 40 years spared jail

dailystar.co.uk:

Courts heard that the vulnerable victim was used and exploited for four decades by his "boss" Peter Swailes Senior, 80, who died last year while awaiting trial for modern slavery offences.Swailes Senior had approached the then 18-year-old and invited him to work with him on various odd jobs.Following a tip-off in October 2018, the man was discovered living in a shed with no heating, no lighting, and no flooring near a residential site in Carlisle.On Friday, Swailes Senior's son, Peter Swailes Junior, 56, received a suspended jail sentence after he admitted conspiring with his father to financially exploit the man from 2015.Crown Court accepted Swailes Junior's plea that although he had known the victim for many years, he had been unaware of his living conditions.

Swailes Jr accepted that his father would contact him from "time to time" and arrange for the victim to undertake work with him, and that "on occasion" the victim was paid less than minimum entitlement.Opening the case, Barbara Webster said: "He (the victim) was found by police living in a rotten shed, with water pouring through it, with a make-shift bed, and congealed vomit in the corner."She continued: "He had few possessions to show for his 40 years' hard work.

He only had a wash bag, three second-hand coats, a few stained duvets, and CDs."When not undergoing work for Swailes Sr., the victim was sent up on the roof to replace tiles and repointing chimneys, as well as being ordered to do chores such as cutting the grass or painting the kitchen.Officers attending the site after the tip-off were told by the victim that he only received £10 a day for his gruelling work.