MP calls for sentence review of Carlisle man who kept slave

Peter Swailes had denied modern slavery but changed his plea on the first day of his trial

An MP has called for the sentence to be reviewed of a man whose disabled slavery victim was exploited for 40 years.

Peter Swailes Jr, 56, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court to a nine-month prison term, suspended for 18 months.

MP Peter Bone raised the issue in Parliament, urging the Attorney General to look at whether the sentence was "unduly lenient".

Solicitor General Alex Chalk MP said he would give the case "close attention".

The victim, who has not been named, was found living in a shed and had been made to work on farms for little pay, with the family dog living in better conditions, the court heard.

Swailes admitted conspiring to facilitate travel of another with a view to exploitation.

His father, also called Peter Swailes, 81, faced the same charge but died last year while awaiting trial after denying the offence.

The court heard the victim, had been "used and exploited" for 40 years while living with the defendant's father.

The shed the man was kept in had no lights or heating

Conservative Wellingborough MP Mr Bone asked in Parliament for a review into whether the sentence was "unduly lenient" because the defendant was not immediately jailed.

Mr Chalk replied: "Yes, of course we will look at that.

"Sentencing is of course a matter for the independent courts, but there is a power to refer cases where they're unduly lenient and I'd be very happy to give that close attention."

The victim was made to live in a horse box, a disused caravan and more recently in a rotten shed on a residential site north of Carlisle.

The man was rescued at the age of 58 by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) after a tip-off in 2018. He now lives in supported accommodation outside the county.

The Crown accepted the defendant's guilty plea in January on the basis he was unaware of the victim's living conditions.

Conditions inside the shed were awful, the GLAA said

Swailes Jr, of Low Harker, Carlisle, accepted that from "time to time" his father would contact him and arrange for the victim to work with him, and that "on occasion" he paid him less than his minimum entitlement.

Judge Richard Archer accepted Swailes' father had been a "controlling influence on him".

But Swailes Jr admitted paying the man as little as £10 a day while being given thousands of pounds for the jobs he was carrying out.

A pre-sentence report assessed Swailes Jr as posing a "very low" risk of reoffending, and also his personal mitigation, including poor health.