Practice Groups
Modern Slavery and Child Exploitation
9KBW is committed to the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the abolition of modern slavery and human trafficking.
Our members are instructed to both prosecute and defend in these serious and difficult cases. Those who are the victims of human trafficking and modern slavery are exploited and cruelly treated purely for the profit of the organisers of such exploitation.
Those trafficked may be subjected to sexual exploitation, forced labour and slavery in a home environment. Some may be forced into slavery and passed from county to county in the UK. Others are trafficked from other countries specifically for the purpose of their exploitation.
Operation Yamata – Inner London Crown Court
John Clifford is currently instructed by C.P.S. in a Modern Slavery case in which the young victim was groomed and forced to sell drugs by the Defendant, who was also involved in organised criminal activity, including a separate recent conviction for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The case has involved expert cell site, gangs and hearsay evidence.
R v D Samuel March was instructed to represent a young man who had just come of age when he was charged with carrying a number of knives. Police had made an initial referral to the Single Competent Authority on modern slavery, but owning to his “no comment” interview and incomplete history, this came back negative. As trial approached he opened up to Samuel about his account, which spanned five years, since he was 13. He had been groomed and then coerced by a gang for years, and had been forced to hold weapons and carry packages between cities. Samuel advised that years of medical, school and social records should be obtained; as well as statements from his adoptive parents relating to disappearances. In a detailed defence statement, he showed how the defendant’s history of hospital admissions, unexplained “accidents” and absences, tied in with years of grooming and criminal exploitation.
A second NRM referral was then made once the defence statement was submitted, which found conclusive grounds for believing that the defendant was a 2victim of modern slavery. The prosecution dropped the case.
