A woman has been found guilty of keeping another woman with learning difficulties captive for 25 years and using her as a slave.
Mother-of-10 Mandy Wixon, 56, made the vulnerable woman clean her squalid and overcrowded home in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, and forced her to live off scraps.
Washing-up liquid would be squirted down the victim’s throat, bleach splashed on her face, and she had her head repeatedly shaved against her will.
At Gloucester Crown Court, Judge Ian Lawrie said there was a “Dickensian quality” to the case as Wixon was found guilty of false imprisonment, requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The BBC has only now been able to report details of the case due to reporting restrictions.
The court heard that the woman, who the BBC is calling K, was born into a troubled family and, when she was about 16 in 1996, was given to Wixon, who had a loose connection to her family.
Now in her 40s, K was found by police on 15 March 2021 after one of Wixon’s sons raised concerns for her welfare.
The court heard K was regularly beaten and also hit with a broom handle, knocking out her teeth.
Her food was limited by Wixon, and she could not leave the house, and was forced to secretly wash at night.
Officers described K’s bedroom as looking like a “prison cell”, with other bedrooms also untidy and dirty.
At times, there were at least 13 people living in the house.
Like many in the home, K had lost many of her teeth due to poor dental hygiene.
When she was discovered by police, she had scarring to her lips and face from being splashed with bleach, and large calluses on her feet and ankles from being constantly on her hands and knees cleaning floors.
K told officers: “I don’t want to be here. I don’t feel safe. Mandy hits me all the time. I don’t like it.”
Doctors found the victim was malnourished, while a dentist noted she would have been in agony for years due to untreated infections and abscesses.
Det Sgt Alex Pockett said: “When the police arrived, the victim had her head held down, it was clear she was extremely scared.”
Sam Jones, prosecuting, told the jury: “By the late 1990s it appears the woman disappeared into a black hole. Not a single meeting that left a record or a single sighting of her outside the house.”
Wixon was released on conditional bail and will be sentenced on 12 March.
As she left court she was asked what she had to say to her victim and replied: “Not a lot.”
Asked if she was sorry, she said: “No. I never done it.”
Reporters asked if she was a “monster”, as she stopped to light a cigarette, and she replied: “Say what you think.”
Victim now ‘flourishing’
Since being rescued, K is now living with a foster family, attending college and has been on holidays abroad.
Det Con Emma Jackson from Gloucestershire Police said she was “flourishing” and living a healthy life.
Laura Burgess, a senior prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service, added: “The progress she has made since being removed from this oppressive environment is a testament to her strength.
“Our thoughts remain with her as she continues to rebuild her life, and I hope she can find some comfort in seeing justice delivered today.”
BBC
