A woman in England was found guilty of modern-day slavery offenses after holding a woman captive for 20 years and forcing her to serve her family, all while severely beating and abusing her.
Amanda Wixon, 56, was found guilty by a jury at Gloucestershire Crown Court of two counts of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
During Wixon’s trial, the court learned about how Wixon and the victim, who has not been identified, came to know each other and the extent of the abuse Wixon inflicted while holding her prisoner.
In a news release, authorities say the victim, who is now in her 40s and has learning difficulties, first met Wixon when she was a child through family connections.
The victim spent time with Wixon and her family until Wixon assumed responsibility for her in 1996, when the victim was 16, according to The Times. The victim’s family was reportedly “dysfunctional.”
But she was only moved from one dysfunctional home to another.
From the time Wixon took custody of her, authorities say she kept the victim in “squalid conditions,” locked her in the house, and deprived her of food, health, and dental care.
Wixon started claiming financial benefits for the victim in 2000, yet never supported her.
The victim was forced to live in poverty, wearing hand-me-down clothes. She also ate only one meal a day, typically leftover food or scraps. Any more food the victim got without Wixon’s knowledge, she hid and ate in secret.
For years, Wixon also forced her to do housework under the threat of violence, including sweeping the floors with a small brush and dustpan, serving family meals, and washing and sorting the family’s clothing.
Wixon forbade the victim from bathing herself, yet forced her to run baths for her and bathe her children. According to Sky News, Wixon had 10 children.
Wixon also resorted to physical assault numerous times, which included strangling the victim, putting her head down a toilet, and pouring cleaning fluids on her face and down her throat.
The 56-year-old also stamped on the victim and struck her in the face so hard that she lost some of her teeth. She also forcibly shaved off the victim’s hair.
During her confinement, the victim had been given a mobile phone, which Wixon eventually found and destroyed.
Then, in March 2021, the victim was secretly given another cellphone, which she used to call someone to tip off the police.
Officers arrived at Wixon’s home and found the victim. They described her as appearing “frightened, gaunt and malnourished and smelt strongly of body odour. Her hair was cropped close to her head and she had bruises on her arms.”
In her bedroom, they found a basic bed with filthy sheets, bare plaster walls with mold on them, and no light bulb. Authorities posted photos on social media showing the victim’s room.
The victim was taken from the home and transported to a hospital to be evaluated.
Doctors discovered scarring around the victim’s mouth, indicative of contact with cleaning fluids, and calluses on her ankles, which were consistent with the amount of work the victim did on her knees to sweep Wixon’s floors.
At her first dentist appointment in years, it was discovered that the victim was suffering severe pain due to several untreated infections and abscesses.
Wixon was taken into custody afterward. She’ll be sentenced in March.
Neighbors also told authorities that they occasionally saw the victim in the garden. According to The Guardian, one neighbour described the woman as “looking like something out of a concentration camp”.
Another claimed she was just “skin and bone.” Another neighbor described Wixon in a social media post as a “slavekeeper.”
According to a senior prosecutor, the victim is now being taken care of by a personal caregiver and is “healthy and enjoying the freedoms Wixon denied her of for so long.”
“Amanda Wixon subjected the victim in this case to decades of unimaginable cruelty, exploitation and control,” said Laura Burgess, a Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service. “She was denied her freedom, her dignity, and even the most basic autonomy. The progress she has made since being removed from this oppressive environment is a testament to her strength.”
