‘Stop demonising them’: the trafficking victims left behind by UK’s new illegal migration bill

By the time the police smashed down the door of a brothel in a smart apartment block in Sunbury-on-Thames in September 2019, Julia* had spent more than five years trapped in a life of sexual exploitation and debt bondage in the UK.

The organised criminals who were making £500 a day from her prostitution in a network of brothels across the south-east of England, were the third gang to exploit her since she was trafficked from her village in Ukraine to the UK in the back of a lorry in 2014.

With Julia’s help, Surrey police were able to bring four members of the criminal gang to trial, securing a rare conviction under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act and prison sentences.

The government has also laid out plans in the bill to remove the right of those entering the country illegally from accessing any support services currently offered to modern slavery victims.

He says that under the proposed bill, someone like Julia who entered the country illegally could be criminalised, detained and removed before she was able to help the police and would be given no access to the support services currently available to those identified as potential victims of trafficking.

Successful prosecutions rely heavily on victims such as Julia agreeing to give evidence and sticking with police investigations, which can take years to come to trial.