‘I pulled out my rotting tooth so my captors wouldn’t smash it with a hammer,’ reveals ex-slave as calls to helpline soar
Modern slavery survivor Tanya reveals horrors of captivity as calls to helpline soar
MODERN slavery victim Tanya was forced to pull out her own tooth in a squalid toilet to avoid her captors taking a hammer to her face.
Life was hell for the Latvian national who was trafficked into the UK after she lost her job as a factory worker in her home country.
She earnt just 30p a day picking lettuces on UK farms in freezing temperatures - with no jacket.
Each time she accidentally broke a lettuce with her numb fingers, her captors added £50 to the £10,000 debt she supposedly owed them for the 'employment opportunities' they provided her with.
She explained: “When I had bad teeth and I said ‘I have pain’ they said ‘never mind you have pain.’ And another man have bad teeth too and they said ‘You have pain?’. And they take this hammer and just remove all his teeth."
Tanya is just one of a suspected 136,000 slaves in Britain, whose plight The Sun has been highlighting through our Stamp Out Slavery campaign.
We've been calling on the government to extend support for Britain's slaves beyond the current 45-day limit and backing Lord McColl's private members Bill demanding support be extended to a year.
Today it’s been revealed that calls and web enquiries to the National Slavery Helpline rose 68 percent to 7,400 between 2017 and 2018.
Unseen, the charity behind the helpline, said the contact has indicated more than 7,100 potential victims of modern slavery – up 46 per cent on 2017 - and says the findings suggest the scale of modern slavery in the UK is much greater than the 13,000 victims the Home Office estimates.
Reliving the torment she endured from her captors, Tanya told Unseen that after her DIY tooth extraction, she became so unwell with a suspected blood infection she pleaded with her abusers for help.
The Sun wants to Stamp out Slavery
Slavery takes a variety of forms, but most commonly forced labour, sexual exploitation, domestic work or forced criminal activity.
The Home Office estimated that there are 13,000 people held in slavery in the UK, with the Global Slavery Index suggesting the figure could be as many as 136,000.
There were a staggering 5,145 suspected victims in the UK from 116 countries in 2017, including adults who had been used for organ harvesting and children that were forced into sexual exploitation.
At present, trafficked victims have just 45 days support after being freed before they are expected to leave the UK and are deported by the Home Office.
During this short time, they are given accommodation, financial aid, medical treatment, counselling, a support worker, a translator and legal advice.
We want the government to:
Back Lord McColl's proposed bill, which suggests all victims of modern slavery should be given a year's support to recover.
Alongside that they should be given special support to help them, including housing benefits, financial help and other services.
“Ocean is big, your body can be food for fish,” came the crushing reply.
At night, she says was forced to watch her fellow slaves being beaten.
“One day when I go to my bed, there are two men holding a boy, maybe 16 years old. And another man he’s just beating him by [his] legs.”
Tanya quickly learnt to run for cover when her abusers returned to the filthy accommodation the slaves were forced to sleep in.
“When the bosses get drunk… they can just take you for no reason and do something bad.”
She remembers one occasion when the slave masters forced some of her fellow slaves to drink from a puddle. Those who resisted were beaten.
HELP STAMP OUT SLAVERY
Want to help? Here are some of the possible warning signs to look for, according to the Modern Slavery Helpline:
- Domestic slaves may be held in their employer's home and forced to carry out tasks such as childcare, cooking and cleaning
- They may not be allowed to leave the house on their own, or they may be monitored
- The person may work long working hours
- They may not have access to their own belongings, such as a mobile phone or their own ID
- The employer may be abusive, both physically and verbally
- The person may not interact often with the family they are employed by
- A domestic slave may be deprived of their own personal living space, food, water or medical care
- They may wear poorer quality clothing compared to other family members
Suspicious? You can call the Modern Slavery Helpline on 08000 121 700, or fill in an online report at:
Tanya says she would flee to the relative safety of nearby bushes at night so they wouldn’t find her.
She finally found the opportunity to escape her tormentors by fleeing to the local city centre’s Citizens Advice Bureau.
Her English was very poor at the time but she managed to scrawl a message that loosely read: ‘Help me please I am illegal.’
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Convinced she would be arrested, she was amazed to be taken to an Unseen women’s safehouse instead, where she learnt she could trust people to help her rebuild her life.
Andrew Wallis, chief executive of Unseen, said: “The Helpline is receiving an ever-increasing volume of contacts via calls, web and Unseen App submissions - a testament to the scale of the problem of modern slavery in the UK today.
"The numbers of potential victims indicated are just the tip of the iceberg.”
The Modern Slavery Helpline can be reached on 08000 121 700 or online .