A woman was imprisoned and forced to work for a mother and her 10 children for more than a quarter of a century in an ordeal described at the end of a crown court trial as “Dickensian”. The woman, who is now in her 40s and cannot be named, lived off scraps, could not leave the house and was forced to wash secretly at night, Gloucester crown court was told.
She was regularly beaten by Amanda Wixon, 56, had washing-up liquid squirted down her throat, bleach splashed on her face and her head was repeatedly shaved against her will. The woman, who has learning disabilities, was 16 when she moved into Wixon’s home in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, in the mid-1990s and was supposed to stay only for the weekend but remained there until she was discovered by police in 2021.
When officers arrived, the house was overcrowded and had mould on the walls, plaster hanging off and rubbish in the back garden. At Gloucester crown court on Wednesday Wixon was found guilty of false imprisonment, requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Judge Lawrie said there was a “Dickensian quality” to the story and will sentence Wixon in March.
Sam Jones, for the prosecution, told the jury that the victim had in effect disappeared from society. He said: “She was kept in and prevented from leaving the address and she was assaulted and hit many, many times and forced to work with the threats of violence. She was denied food and the ability to wash over many years.” The court heard social services were involved with the family in the late 1990s but there were no records of contact since.
Since being rescued, the woman has been living with a foster family, attending college and has been on holidays abroad. She has suffered nightmares about her ordeal, has a constant wish to clean and has grown her hair, as she always wanted to. Wixon, who had no previous criminal record, maintained she took the woman in to help her as her own family had problems.
