A group of Lithuanian migrants who were trafficked to work in farms producing eggs for high street brands are suing a Kent-based gangmaster operation and its directors, in the first case of a UK company being taken to court for claims relating to modern slavery.
The six Lithuanians suing for damages are among a group of more than 30 men who worked as chicken catchers for DJ Houghton, owned by Darrell Houghton and Jacqueline Judge of Maidstone. Police raided houses controlled by the gangmaster couple in 2012 and liberated several suspected victims of human trafficking.
Speaking exclusively to the Guardian this week, the workers bringing the legal action have described inhuman and degrading conditions. They said they were driven to farms and factories around the UK to undertake back-to-back eight-hour shifts for days at a time.
They said they were the victims of violence, described the process of being debt-bonded on arrival, and spoke of their accommodation riddled with bedbugs and of becoming so hungry that they ate raw eggs. They have reported being denied sleep and toilet breaks, forcing them to urinate into bottles and defecate into carrier bags in their vehicle.
They also allege that their pay was repeatedly withheld, while Lithuanian supervisors working with the Houghtons abused and assaulted workers, intimidated them with fighting dogs and threatened them with instant eviction if they complained. Accommodation provided was dirty, overcrowded and unsafe and infested with bed bugs and fleas.
A Guardian investigation in 2012 revealed that the trafficked Lithuanians were working in supply chains producing premium free range eggs for McDonald’s, Tesco, Asda, M&S, and the Sainsbury’s Woodland brand. The farm sheds they cleared of chickens also produced eggs under the Freedom Food brand, and for Noble Foods, owner of the Happy Egg Company.
Noble Foods is the UK’s largest egg company and it and its chairman, Peter Dean, have been major donors to the Conservative party. The company helicopter has been lent on occasion to the prime minister, David Cameron, for election campaigning. Cameron promised earlier this month to tackle modern slavery in the UK.
It is notoriously hard for victims of trafficking to get justice. There have been 75 convictions for gangmaster offences since the Gangmaster Licensing Act regulating them came in to force, but only one compensation order for workers.
The Gangmaster Licensing Authority (GLA) revoked the licence of DJ Houghton immediately after the raid and police arrested the Houghtons, but three years on there have been no charges against the gangmasters or their associates. The Houghtons’ bail has expired and they have told local media that they are blameless.
A UK arrest warrant was issued for one of the overseers, Edikas Mankevicius, who is alleged by workers to have acted as the Houghtons’ “enforcer” with their knowledge, and to have assaulted some of the men.
Mankevicius had returned to Lithuania just before the raids, however, and police say they have been unable to interview him. They have not applied for a European arrest warrant for him. A spokesperson for Kent police said they believed they would need to interview him before having enough evidence to apply for one.
Five of the six Lithuanian men suing for damages have had their status as victims of human trafficking confirmed by the National Crime Agency’s Human Trafficking Centre.
Many of their allegations are corroborated by an official inspection report prepared by the GLA after the police raid, which the Guardian obtained with a freedom of information request. It catalogues a string of abuses and serious breaches of regulations by what the GLA has described as “the worst UK gangmaster ever”.
The Houghtons’ GLA licence was revoked after the police raid. The couple appealed against the decision in June 2013 and told local media they would clear their name. They later withdrew their appeal. The Guardian has learned that they had their licence revoked on a previous occasion in 2007 for breaches relating to excessive hours, failure to comply with employment legislation and unsafe accommodation. They applied for a new licence once again in November 2014. The final GLA decision on this application is still awaited.
The GLA told the Guardian that its powers were limited to revoking licences and prosecuting gangmasters who were unlicensed. It has no powers to impose fines or prosecute for abuses those who are licensed; that responsibility lies with the police.
Shanta Martin, a solicitor at Leigh Day, which is representing the Lithuanian victims, said they were bringing the civil action because they were “incensed that in the three years since their escape there appeared to have been no repercussions for those they believed mistreated them”.
“It seemed to them extraordinary that the police had not followed up with them, despite their willingness to act as witnesses in a prosecution and the fact that many of them had been confirmed as victims of human trafficking,” she said.
Leigh Day believes the claim is the first high court case to be made against a corporate defendant for trafficking-related claims. The Houghtons have not filed a defence in the civil claim, although at the time of writing lawyers for their insurers were understood to have asked for an extension. The couple failed to respond to the Guardian’s written and phone requests for comment. The legal representatives for the defence in the civil claim declined to comment.
Noble Foods said it had immediately stopped using the Houghtons after the police raid and that it had since introduced stringent new processes and audits to make sure such abuse of workers supplied to its farms could not happen.
Freedom Food said it had suspended the Houghtons’ membership of the brand soon after the police action. The retailers said they had invested greater resources in monitoring labour standards since the case and had sponsored a new initiative to train suppliers to spot labour exploitation.
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