Birmingham homeless charity helps 50 slavery victims in two years

A homeless charity says it has uncovered more than 50 victims of modern day slavery in two years.

Sifa Fireside in Birmingham said it was shocked at the number of vulnerable people forced to work for a pittance.

It said it worked in partnership with another charity, Hope for Justice, "to report potential cases to police".

One man, Will, became homeless and was taken in by a Czech couple in Walsall who he said poisoned him and stole his credit cards.

The Polish national, who did not give his surname, was enslaved for two years, losing five teeth after being punched by his captors.

He said: "Can you imagine being woken up at two o'clock in the morning, because some drunk Czech person is ranting at you to go and get some vodka for them?

"Or being woken up at four in the morning and told that 'oh, you have to clean the garden' in the dark. Just because they are drunk, they want to get some stuff done, so you have to do it for them."

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He came to Sifa Fireside, where staff said they had recorded 56 victims of modern day slavery in two years.

Its chief executive, Carly Jones, said: "We just couldn't quite imagine actually that there would be such a high volume.

"I think [if] you sit in [on] our drop-in on a daily basis, there will be several people that are victims and our figures are really just the tip of the iceberg."

There were 400 modern day slavery active investigations in the region from December 2016 to December 2017, compared with 137 in the same period 2015-16, West Midlands Police said.

The charity said it encouraged any homeless people it comes into contact with, who claim they are a potential victim, to contact police, but "in the main they choose not to".