Summary

• A UK court has sentenced 56‑year‑old Amanda Wixon to 13 years in prison for modern‑day slavery and abuse.
• The victim, who has a learning disability, was forced to work as a “house slave” in Wixon’s home for more than 25 years.
• The court heard the woman was beaten, starved, denied healthcare and subjected to repeated humiliation and violence.
• The victim moved into the home as a teenager in 1995 and remained there until 2021.
• She now lives with a foster family, is attending college and is undergoing therapy following the years of abuse.

 

LONDON – A UK judge on Thursday jailed for 13 years a mother-of-10 who forced a vulnerable woman to work as a “house slave” for more than two decades.

Amanda Wixon subjected the woman, who was a teenager when the ordeal began, to more than 25 years of abuse at her squalid home in Gloucestershire, western England.

The 56-year-old forced the victim, who has a learning disability, to do manual labour, regularly assaulted her and deprived her of food and healthcare, it emerged during an earlier 13-day trial.

Gloucester Crown Court heard Wixon would regularly beat the victim, who is now in her 40s, including with a broom handle, knocking out her teeth on one occasion.

Wixon — referred to as “The Witch” by her tormented victim — would also squirt washing-up liquid down her throat, splash bleach on her face and repeatedly shaved her head against her will.

The vulnerable woman had first moved into the home in 1995, remaining there until 2021.

Wixon was convicted in January of false imprisonment and modern-day slavery offences, including two counts of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour and charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

“The gravity of your offending is so serious that I am imposing a significant period of custody,” judge Ian Lawrie said as he handed down Thursday’s sentence.

He added Wixon was in “permanent denial” about the impact of her actions.

During the trial, the court heard Wixon knew the victim through family connections and had spent time with her and her relatives before taking responsibility for the woman in 1996.

It emerged social services had been involved with the Wixon family in the late 1990s, but there were no records of any other contact with any agency since then.

The victim now lives with a foster family and attends college, but has little comprehension of the abuse she suffered, her anonymous foster mother said Thursday.

She added the victim was terrified of Wixon and broke down in hysterics when she accidentally bumped into her in a supermarket recently.

“She called her The Witch,” the foster mother told Britain’s Press Association domestic news agency.

“She’s really scared of her.”

The foster mother added the victim was “going through therapy” with “a good psychologist”.

“I think she will be OK in time. But it’s just going to take time.”