Slavery convicted handed restrictions on life after prison

Normunds Freibergs was jailed for five years in October 2022 for modern slavery offences

A man who was jailed for enslaving a vulnerable man has been handed a list of restrictions on his daily life.

Normunds Freibergs, 41, was jailed for five years in 2022 for making a person perform forced or compulsory labour.

He has now been issued with a 10-year Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Order, which aims to prevent future offences.

Under the order there are restrictions on how he can employ staff and which bank accounts he can operate.

Last October, Latvian national Freibergs, of Morley Close, Newport, was sentenced alongside Jokubas Stankevicius, 59, and his wife Ruta Stankeviciene, 57, both of Capel Close, Newport.

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Stankevicius was jailed for four years and Stankeviciene sentenced to 20 months, suspended for 18 months.

Together they stripped their victim of his passport and bank cards, denied him showers and clean clothes, and threatened him that his family would be targeted in his native Latvia if he ever attempted to leave.

Jokubas Stankevicius (left), Ruta Stankeviciene (middle), and Normunds Freibergs (right) were convicted of modern slavery charges

Under the order, Freibergs is barred from the following without written permission from the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA):

• Advertising to recruit or employ staff

• Arranging accommodation or travel for anyone other than his spouse or a child of his family aged under 18

• Operating any bank account or credit card which is not in his own name, joint with a spouse or for a child of his family aged under 18

• Being in possession of a passport or government identity document, unless it is one which is in his own name, or the name of his spouse, or a child of his family under 18

GLAA senior investigating officer Andy Davies said: "This order is really important in controlling Freibergs' activities once he is released from prison, to significantly reduce the chances of him re-offending.

"The crimes that he was found guilty of were so serious that we felt we needed the extra safeguards the order provides to monitor his activities and to take swift action if any of the conditions are not fully adhered to."

Breaching the order is a criminal offence carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison.