Woman Found Guilty of Keeping 'House Slave' for 25 Years in Gloucestershire
A mother of ten has been convicted of keeping a vulnerable woman as a domestic slave for more than a quarter of a century in a squalid Gloucestershire home. The shocking case, heard at Gloucester Crown Court, revealed systematic abuse and imprisonment that lasted from 1995 until 2021.
Decades of Abuse and Imprisonment
The victim, now in her mid-40s, was just 16 years old when she moved into the Tewkesbury home of Amanda Wixon, 56. Over the following 25 years, she endured what prosecutors described as a life of forced labour and violent abuse. The court heard she was regularly beaten, sometimes with a broom handle that knocked out her teeth, and had washing-up liquid squirted down her throat.
Her living conditions were described as Dickensian, with the family home overcrowded, mould covering the walls, plaster hanging loose, and rubbish accumulating in the garden. Prosecutors detailed how the woman's food was severely limited, forcing her to survive on scraps, while she was prevented from leaving the property and could only wash secretly at night.
Systematic Control and Isolation
Prosecutor Sam Jones told the jury the victim had been "kept in and prevented from leaving the address, assaulted and hit many, many times and forced to work with threats of violence." The woman, who has learning difficulties, had left her own dysfunctional family only to enter what Judge Ian Lawrie KC described as another abusive situation.
Remarkably, the woman had no medical or dental records for two decades and had not seen a doctor during that entire period. Social services had been involved with the family in the late 1990s but had no records of contact since, with Mr Jones stating "the fact remains that nothing was done by social services."
Discovery and Rescue
Police finally intervened in March 2021 after receiving a report from one of Wixon's sons. Officers discovered the victim in a bedroom described as more like a prison cell, where she told them "I don't want to be here. I don't feel safe. Mandy hits me all the time. I don't like it. I haven't washed for years. She doesn't let me."
When rescued, she was dangerously underweight with scarring on her lips and face, and large calluses on her feet and ankles from constantly cleaning floors on her hands and knees. One neighbour described her appearance as "looking like something out of a concentration camp," while another recalled seeing her "skin and bone" with a shaved head.
Court Proceedings and Sentencing
Wixon denied charges of false imprisonment, requiring forced labour, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The jury acquitted her of one assault charge but found her guilty of the others. She was released on conditional bail and will be sentenced on March 12, facing a potential 10-year prison sentence.
Defence lawyer Edward Hollingsworth argued the case had been inflated, suggesting "just like Mandy and others in the family, their teeth rotted out by neglect" rather than systematic abuse. When informed of her potential sentence, Wixon responded "I know that. Do you think I am stupid? Do you think I don't know that?"
Life After Rescue
Since being freed, the victim has been living with a foster family, attending college, and has even been on holiday abroad. However, she continues to suffer nightmares about her ordeal and has developed a constant compulsion to clean.
Former neighbour Kiran Atwal, who grew up next door to Wixon, expressed relief at the conviction, stating "She can rot in hell. Good luck to her in prison is all I've got to say. She deserved it, and I cannot wait for sentencing day." Atwal recalled that while neighbours noticed the woman's presence when they were children, she had effectively disappeared from view for the last 10 to 15 years.
The case has raised serious questions about how such prolonged abuse could occur undetected in modern Britain, with the victim effectively disappearing into what prosecutors described as a "black hole" despite previous social services involvement.
