A mother who took in a Ukrainian refugee says she found herself being investigated by police after being reported for modern slavery - after asking the houseguest to babysit. Hannah Debenham, 44, says she welcomed a 36-year-old mother and her 10-year-old daughter from the war-torn country into her eight-bedroom home in Uckfield, East Sussex, as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Hannah, who is married and has two sons aged five and 11, introduced the young woman to her friends, fed her, and gave her a roof to sleep under, but soon everything came undone. After just three months, Hannah found herself accused of modern slavery - but police soon said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.
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As the Daily Mail reports, Hannah, an occupational therapist, suffered 'endless sleepless nights' after she was accused, even though initially she had got on with the Ukrainian refugee well.
Before the young woman had moved in, Hannah had spoke to her on the phone and she was excited to open up her home to the guest.
She had previously approached a Ukrainian charity and was matched with a woman with a six-year-old daughter, but the arrangement fell through when the woman 'aggressively' asked for money.
Then, a few months later, on a website for au pairs looking for work, she came across a 36-year-old woman who cannot be named, but who The Mail called Katya as a pseudonym, who was an English teacher from the Vinnytsia region in west-central Ukraine.
The pair began chatting, and Katya said she was scared to go home as there were bombings just 30 miles away, so Hannah advised she apply for a visa and move to the UK for a while - and she would pay her to do some babysitting.
Katya then mentioned she had a ten-year-old daughter.
Hannah said that Katya was "crying in joy" when she was invited to come over with her daughter, and a short while later, the pair flew into Heathrow on a flight from Poland.
Hannah went to pick her up, and gave the woman and her daughter a bedroom and bathroom of their own in her home.
She then gave Katya money, fed her, and brought her into the centre of her life - even taking time off work to make sure her guest settled in alright.
But the cracks soon began to show, as Hannah said Katya "wasn't great" at cleaning up after herself, and would kick off her as soon as she came in the house and would items lying around.
Hannah was determined to make things work so she assumed the best, thinking Katya just needed some time to settle in, but after a while she raised the issue.
To begin with, Katya promised to change and said she would clean up after herself, but she never did. Then, when Hannah pressed the issue, she threatened to leave and find somewhere else to live.
Hannah said that from that point, Katya remained moody and "effectively wasn't speaking to me unless she had to", adding that it became "rather difficult" at home.
Then, one day, Katya got up much earlier than normal and Hannah, who was working in the office that day, assumed she had turned over a new leaf.
Then, after a string of meetings, Hannah noticed she a number of missed calls and voicemail messages from her husband who explained the police had arrived at the home, stating that Katya had reported them for forced labour.
It emerged that Katya had claimed she had been forced to clean the house and provide full-time childcare.
Hannah added: "It was all complete lies - We hadn't once asked her to clean the house and, in the entire three weeks she was there, she did no more than a few hours' babysitting because my eldest was in school and my youngest goes to full-time nursery.
"Even so, the policeman told me it was a very serious allegation that could carry a life sentence and that the next step was a formal interview, possibly under caution. I put the phone down feeling sick to my stomach."
When Hannah returned home, she found that Katya's room was completely cleared out, and a month later she had to endure a police interview by the modern slavery team based in Eastbourne.
She said the interview was confrontational, and after a 90-minute grilling she was told the investigation would progress from there.
Eventually she was told that there was insufficient evidence to charge her.
She said the relief was "immense", but soon replaced "by anger", adding that she's never got any explanation from Katya. She added: "It's good to be kind - but I'm not doing it again."
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