July 2013 Authorities were alerted when a 20-year-old male trafficking victim contacted a charity, revealing he had been the victim of offences committed in 2011. More victims soon came forward, and others were identified. West Yorkshire police launched Operation Tavernhouse and in May, convictions were made against Hungarian traffickers Janos Orsos and Ferenc Illes, who had been providing Kozee Sleep, a bed factory that supplied retailers including John Lewis, Dunelm and Next with Hungarian workers. Company owner Mohammed Rafiq and two of his employees were charged with conspiracy to facilitate travel within the UK for exploitation. Rafiq is the first owner of a UK company to be charged with human trafficking offences. Workers supplied to Kozee Sleep were forced to live with up to 42 men in a two-bedroom house on Batley Field Hill and were found to be surviving on small scraps of food. The men would work for up to 20 hours a day and were paid as little as £10 a week. In May 2014, Janos Orsos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic a person into the UK for exploitation, conspiracy to traffic a person within the UK for exploitation, blackmail and converting criminal property. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment. Ferenc Illes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic a person within the UK for exploitation. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment. In January 2016, Mohammed Rafiq was found guilty of conspiracy to traffic and was sentenced to two years and three months imprisonment. He had pleaded not guilty.

The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves. Photo: Batley Field Hill, Batley, Kirklees, courtesy of The Dark Figure  

March 2015 Two Hungarian women, aged 21 and 30, were rescued from a terrace property on Spa Road in Bolton after being trafficked one year previously by the Dardai family, also Hungarian, who enslaved the women, forcing them into prostitution. Daniel Dardai, Ferenc Dardai, Ferenc Dardai Jr, and Melania Kiraly were arrested and subsequently charged for modern slavery offences. Dardai Jr set up profiles for the two women on adult websites. When clients called, he and his father would tell the women what to say. The victims were forced to see up to five clients a day. One of the women told the court that she was made to eat with separate cutlery so she would not pass on any infection. She was given only bread, butter and salami, sometimes only once a day. The women were beaten daily by Dardai Jr and his mother. They were forced to hand over the money they made, which was around £150 a day. They were also told they could not leave until they had earned more money. One of the victims said Dardai Jr had on occasions strangled her for not smiling enough for clients and she had fainted after one beating. All family members pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court for sexual exploitation of the women. Dardai Sr, who claimed in court that he had been directed by his sons, was jailed for four years. His son, Daniel Ferenc was sentenced to 3 years in a young offenders institute. His brother Dardai Jr was sentenced to six years. Dardai Jr’s wife Kiraly was jailed for four years and four months plus an extra two months to run consecutively after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit a sham marriage.

The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves. Photo: Spa Road, Bolton, courtesy of The Dark Figure

March 2015 Two Hungarian women, aged 21 and 30, were rescued from a terrace property on Spa Road in Bolton after being trafficked one year previously by the Dardai family, also Hungarian, who enslaved the women, forcing them into prostitution. Daniel Dardai, Ferenc Dardai, Ferenc Dardai Jr, and Melania Kiraly were arrested and subsequently charged for modern slavery offences. Dardai Jr set up profiles for the two women on adult websites. When clients called, he and his father would tell the women what to say. The victims were forced to see up to five clients a day. One of the women told the court that she was made to eat with separate cutlery so she would not pass on any infection. She was given only bread, butter and salami, sometimes only once a day.The women were beaten daily by Dardai Jr and his mother. They were forced to hand over the money they made, which was around £150 a day. They were also told they could not leave until they had earned more money. One of the victims said Dardai Jr had on occasions strangled her for not smiling enough for clients and she had fainted after one beating. All family members pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court for sexual exploitation of the women. Dardai Sr, who claimed in court that he had been directed by his sons, was jailed for four years. His son, Daniel Ferenc was sentenced to 3 years in a young offenders institute. His brother Dardai Jr was sentenced to six years. Dardai Jr’s wife Kiraly was jailed for four years and four months plus an extra two months to run consecutively after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit a sham marriage.The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves.

Photo: Spa Road, Bolton, courtesy of The Dark Figure

March 2011 Gloucestershire Police carried out warrants at three properties in Gloucestershire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire after a year long investigation, including a 5 month surveillance operation of the Connors family was triggered by the discovery of the remains of a body, which was found near the Connors family home in May 2008. The body was that of Christopher Nicholls, who had been working for the Connors for 3 years and was reported missing by his parents in 2005. He was struck by a car in 2004. 19 vulnerable people were found living at Beggers Roost caravan park in Staverton living in squalid conditions and were subject to assault, theft of benefits and exploitation. Survivor Mark Ovenden told Channel 4 he was heading to his local soup kitchen in Bournemouth when a white van pulled over ahead of him. The driver approached him and offered him a job near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. He was taken to Beggers Roost and subjected to modern slavery for the next 2 years of his life. Some of the rescued men had been kept at the Connors property for up to 30 years and having been institutionalised, did not recognise themselves as victims. 5 members of the Connors family stood trial and were charged with offences involving the serious mistreatment of people who, because of their personal circumstances, had little option but to remain with the Connors. All 5 members of the Connors family were found guilty of the conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour between April 2010 and March 2011 and are facing a maximum sentence of 14 years.

The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves. Photo: Bamfurlong Lane, Staverton, Cheltenham, courtesy of The Dark Figure  

2013 A 22-year-old Hungarian woman responded to an advert for a baby-sitter job in London and was offered the job during a telephone interview.  When she arrived in Budapest to travel to Britain, she was met by three men who threatened her and removed her phone, before driving her to Slovakia, where she was brought to Manchester by coach. The woman was then sold to a Pakistani man for £3,500, who told her they were to marry. She was held at addresses in Gorton, Longsight and Levenshulme, before being taken to Chorley, Lancashire, where she was able to alert police. 2015 Bartolomej Sivak, the organiser of the operation pleaded guilty to trafficking and conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law and was jailed for 4 years and 2 months. Rana Yousaf who assisted in the moving of the victim, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law and was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment.  Nasar Khan, who acted as a fixer for the sale of the victim, was found in Frankfurt and was extradited back to the UK. Khan was sentenced to three years in jail after pleading guilty to conspiracy to facilitate a breach of immigration law. Waqas Younus is still wanted in relation to the investigation.The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves. Photo: Cunliffe Street, Chorley, courtesy of The Dark Figure

June 2015 53-year-old Jurate Grigelyte of Easton, Bristol was sentenced to 3 years in prison after admitting to 10 charges of facilitating entry into the UK with a view to exploiting labour, 10 charges of human trafficking and one count of forced labour. Grigelyte trafficked Lithuanian nationals to the UK with the promise of good employment and accommodation, but the workers, many of whom spoke little or no English, were forced to live in cramped and squalid conditions in properties around Bristol where she would lock them inside, only allowing them to enter and leave through a window. The victims worked illegally for Grigelyte’s charity bag business collecting donations from people and sorting through clothing. They were transported around the South West in vans with no seats or windows. A typical working day lasted from 5am to 6pm. Grigelyte promised workers £25 per day, but would deduct money for rent, travel and various fines, often leaving workers debt-bonded, with no money for food. Police arrested Grigelyte in November 2014 after a school raised concerns about the welfare of a six-year-old boy, who was the son of one of the victims.The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves. Photo: Hathaway Walk, Easton, Bristol, courtesy of The Dark Figure

July 2013 A 36-year-old Latvian woman arrived in the UK with the belief that she would be given a job on a mushroom farm. Instead, she was taken to the house of Hanan Butt and Jekaterina Ostrovska in Slough, and was then moved to Birmingham where she was introduced to Mohammed Akmal, whom she later married in a false Islamic ceremony, witnessed by Rashid Ahmed. The victim was moved to two addresses in Longsight, Manchester. In the first address, she existed in a small attic bedroom which was locked while Akmal’s family lived in the main house. The second address had metal grates over the windows and she was not allowed to use the telephone or leave the house without being supervised.  The victim was found after she managed to tear off a partial address from a piece of mail and rang her mother who then informed Interpol.   November 2015 Mohammed Akmal and Rashid Ahmed were both found guilty of conspiracy to seek to remain leave in the UK by deception. Akmal was sentenced to one year and eight months, whilst Ahmed was sentenced to just nine months imprisonment.  Hanan Butt and Jekaterina Ostrovska both pleaded guilty to human trafficking for exploitation. Butt was sentenced to two years and eight months, whilst Ostrovska was sentenced to two years and six months imprisonment.The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves.

Photo: Smart Street, Longsight, Manchester, courtesy of The Dark Figure

2004 A number of local fishermen were called in by the coastguard to help with the rescue of 24 Chinese cockle pickers that were trapped by the sweeping tides. Within a few hours, 20 bodies had been recovered and only 1 man was found alive. Morecambe Bay holds a 28-mile tide. Locals told the press that the disaster was avoidable had the cockle pickers known the geography of the area. Instead, they were unable to navigate a safe route off the cockle bed. The workers had been imported unlawfully via shipping containers into Liverpool where they were hired out through local criminal agents of international Chinese Triads. Rescues of large groups of stranded Chinese cockle pickers by Morecambe locals had already taken place in previous years, but rather than act as a warning to both gangmasters and authorities, the booming cockling trade meant the industry was heavily under-regulated, so workers could be easily exploited.  In May 2004, the 21st body was washed up. January 2006 Gangmaster Lin Liang Ren was found guilty of the manslaughter of at least 21 people, of breaking immigration laws and for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. Ren’s girlfriend Zhao Xiao Qing and cousin Lin Mu Yong, were both found guilty of facilitating illegal immigration and for perverting the course of justice. They were sentenced to 7 ½ years between them. Business owners of Liverpool Bay Fishing Company Ltd. David Anthony Eden senior and David Antony Eden junior, bought the gang’s cockles for far cheaper than local rates. Both were found not guilty for helping the workers break immigration law.The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves.

Photo: Morecambe Bay, courtesy of The Dark Figure

March 2014 61-year-old Emmanuel Edet and his wife, 58-year-old Antan Edet were arrested by London police in their home in Perivale, North West London, after their “houseboy” Ofonime Sunday Inuk heard a radio report about modern slavery, and called a charity asking for their help. Emmanuel Edet, a former NHS obstetrician and Antan Edet, a senior midwife, trafficked Inuk, an orphan from Nigeria in 1989, telling immigration officials he was their teenage son. For 24 years Inuk worked unpaid for up to 17 hours per day looking after the couple’s two sons and performing domestic duties such as cooking, cleaning and gardening. He was made to sleep on the floor of the hallway. After confiscating his passport, the couple told Inuk if he were to leave the house he would be deported as an illegal immigrant.  In November 2015, The Edet’s were found guilty of child cruelty, servitude and for the assistance of unlawful immigration. Each have been sentenced to six years.Although the mistreatment of Inuk spanned 24 years, servitude only became an offence under the Coroners and Justice Act in 2009, so their conviction and sentencing for servitude can only count for injustices from 2010 to 2013.The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves. Photo: Farrier Road, Perivale, Ealing, London, courtesy of The Dark Figure

March 2016 Two men and one woman were arrested and subsequently charged for servitude after a dawn raid at the factory of wholesale chicken supplier Bolton Poultry Products.  Six workers were found and have been identified as possible victims of human trafficking and forced labour. It is suspected that the workers were living on the site. One man was found hiding inside a shipping container which contained makeshift beds made from tables, whilst another was found sleeping on top of concrete with bits of cardboard in a boiler room. Charges were dropped against former director of Bolton Poultry Products, Ebrahim Dalal. His son and daughter-in-law Said Dalal and Anisha Dalal, both directors of Bolton Halal Chicken continue to face charges. Case ongoing.The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves. Photo: Bolton Poultry Products, Moncrieffe Street, Bolton, courtesy of The Dark Figure

July 2015 A tweet on the Preston Police Twitter page raised concern about some young women living at an address in Longworth Street, which was suspected to be a brothel. Further enquiries led to a police raid at the address, where two young women were found and were thought to have been brought to the UK from Romania and forced into sexual exploitation.   Marius Petre, Adrian Matei and Ionut Ion were arrested at the address. The victims, both aged 18, had only been in the UK for two weeks before they were found. They were transported to the UK from Romania by Petre and Matei with the promise of work as maids at a hotel. Instead, they were taken to Longworth Street where they were told they would be working as prostitutes. The girls were forced to perform sexual acts on customers and were told that both they and their families would be beaten if they refused to comply, or tried to run away. They were also subjected to rape by Petre, Matei and Ionut, who were already at the house when the women arrived. In February 2016, Marius Petre and Adrian Matei were found guilty of intentionally arranging or facilitating entry to the UK of a person with a view to their sexual exploitation, causing or inciting prostitution for financial gain and of four counts of rape. They were both sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.  Ionut Ion was found guilty of keeping or managing a brothel used for prostitution and of two counts of rape. He was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves. Photo: Longworth Street, Preston, courtesy of The Dark Figure

February 2016 A gang of three brothers, their uncle and two women were found guilty of 55 serious offences, some of which lay undetected for almost 20 years. 15 vulnerable girls, one as young as 11, were subjected to acts of sexual violence between 1987 and 2003 including rape, forced prostitution, indecent assault and false imprisonment.  Karen MacGregor was sentenced to 13 years for conspiracy to procure a child for prostitution, false imprisonment, and conspiracy to rape. MacGregor was a high-profile campaigner on behalf of abused children. In 2013, she founded KinKids, a community support group for kinship carers. MacGregor boasted that KinKids had helped families affected by the scandal. She had persuaded Rotherham council, local Labour MP John Healey and other local organisations to support KinKids in the wake of heightened investigation into cases of child abuse in Rotherham.  MacGregor had been luring vulnerable girls to her home in Walker Street, which was described by one of the victims as akin to the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale. There, she would groom them before pimping them out in order for them to earn their keep. One of her victims described how MacGregor was a motherly figure who had taken her under her wing at a difficult time in her life and treated her like a daughter. Another victim described how within days of arriving, MacGregor had plied her with vodka to the point of unconsciousness before waking up to find herself being sexually assaulted.  New investigation: The conduct of more than 50 officers from South Yorkshire Police who had dealt with the victims across the 20 year period is now under investigation.The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves. Photo: Walker Street, Rawmarsh, Rotherham, courtesy of The Dark Figure

Nigel: They fed me, that was it. That was the only thing they did do, you know what I mean? They said the money would be there at the weekend. I went, ‘Make sure my money’s there, you know what I mean?’ I said, ‘I just want my money. I work hard, I just want my money, that’s all I want.’ Come Friday, I fronted them, they surrounded me – ‘Just get back in your caravan.’ They threatened me. They said, ‘Go back in your caravan or we’ll dust you up,’ they said. It was a bit terrifying, wasn’t it, you know what I mean? I mean you don’t want to beat twenty people. They’re nasty people, they’re just nasty people.Men from 18 to 60 have been targeted from this area and are largely exploited in the block paving and tarmacking industry as well as areas such as agriculture, food processing and factory work.Transcript: Street Slaves, File on 4, BBC Radio 4.The Dark Figure* is an ongoing photographic project that investigates and documents UK neighbourhoods where victims have been identified as modern-day slaves.Photo: Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, courtesy of The Dark Figure