A woman was imprisoned and forced to work for a mother and her 10 children for more than a quarter of a century in an ordeal described at the end of a crown court trial as “Dickensian”.
The woman, who is now in her 40s and cannot be named, lived off scraps, could not leave the house and was forced to wash secretly at night, Gloucester crown court was told.
She was regularly beaten by Amanda Wixon, 56, had washing-up liquid squirted down her throat, bleach splashed on her face and her head was repeatedly shaved against her will.
The woman, who has learning disabilities, was 16 when she moved into Wixon’s home in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, in the mid-1990s and was supposed to stay only for the weekend but remained there until she was discovered by police in 2021.
When officers arrived, the house was overcrowded and had mould on the walls, plaster hanging off and rubbish in the back garden.
At Gloucester crown court on Wednesday Wixon was found guilty of false imprisonment, requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Judge Lawrie said there was a “Dickensian quality” to the story and will sentence Wixon in March. Sam Jones, for the prosecution, told the jury that the victim had in effect disappeared from society.
He said: “She was kept in and prevented from leaving the address and she was assaulted and hit many, many times and forced to work with the threats of violence. She was denied food and the ability to wash over many years.”
The court heard social services were involved with the family in the late 1990s but there were no records of contact since.
Jones said: “The fact remains that nothing was done by social services.” He said there were no medical records or dental records for the woman, and she had not seen a doctor in two decades.
“The lack of records from the hospital, the doctor and the dentist or any involvement with social services for 20 years provides further support of her never being allowed to leave the house.
“By the late 1990s it appears the woman disappeared into a black hole. Not a single meeting that left a record.”
Like many of those living in the house, including Wixon, the woman lost many of her teeth due to poor dental hygiene, the court heard.
Neighbours occasionally saw her in the garden. One neighbour described the woman as “looking like something out of a concentration camp”. Another claimed she was just “skin and bone” and described seeing her being hit with a broom.
One neighbour described Wixon in a social media post as a “slavekeeper”. Police went to the house in March 2021 in response to a tip-off. Officers described the woman’s bedroom as looking like a “prison cell”, with other bedrooms untidy and dirty.
Footage from police bodyworn cameras showed the woman appearing thin, timid, unwashed and fearful, with a bruise she attributed to Wixon. She had scarring to her lips and face and large calluses on her feet and ankles from being constantly on her hands and knees cleaning floors.
The woman told police: “I don’t want to be here. I don’t feel safe. Mandy hits me all the time. I don’t like it. I haven’t washed for years. She doesn’t let me.”
Since being rescued, the woman has been living with a foster family, attending college and has been on holidays abroad. She has suffered nightmares about her ordeal, has a constant wish to clean and has grown her hair, as she always wanted to.
Wixon, who had no previous criminal record, maintained she took the woman in to help her as her own family had problems.
Edward Hollingsworth, for the defence, described the prosecution case as a “tale of fantasy and lies”.
He said: “The life of Amanda Wixon was much more complicated and nuanced. Her other children were not vaccinated, not attending school, and had rotting teeth and head lice.”
He said they all lived in squalid conditions and the woman had been neglected but not violently abused.
The barrister said the house was cluttered and parts looked filthy. He said: “If the prosecution case is she was a house slave, why was she not tidying it. If you had a woman as a house slave for 20 years, why have you got a house like that?”
Hollingsworth pointed out the woman was on the electoral roll until 2022 and the benefits agency knew she was there too. It was possible she did not see a doctor because that was just how the family dealt with health matters.
Gloucestershire police said Wixon deprived the victim of money. Despite claiming benefits for the victim since 2000, which were paid into Wixon’s bank account, she was forced to live in poverty and wear hand-me-down clothes. She had to serve the family meals, do the washing up and sort the family’s clothing.
Wixon forbade the victim from washing herself but was made to bathe Wixon’s children.
On one occasion, when Wixon discovered the victim had been given a mobile phone, she took it from her and hit her around the face with it, giving her a black eye. She then smashed the phone with a hammer.
In March 2021, after feeling ill, the victim used another secret mobile phone she had been given to call someone she knew for help. The police were called and officers attended.
DC Emma Jackson from Gloucestershire police said: “Wixon kept an extremely vulnerable victim captive in appalling conditions for over two decades.
“Instead of caring for her, as she was supposed to, she exploited her and forced her to work in domestic servitude whilst subjecting her to the most cruel and inhumane treatment.
“I commend the victim in this case for reaching out for help. Knowing all too well what the violent consequences would have been if she’d been caught, it was incredibly courageous of her.”
Laura Burgess, a senior crown prosecutor, said: “Amanda Wixon subjected the victim in this case to decades of unimaginable cruelty, exploitation and control. 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.”
