Modern Slavery Case: 'The Witch' Accused of Holding Victim for 25 Years

A MUM-of-10 known as “The Witch” is facing jail for keeping a modern day slave in her council house for 25 years. Evil Amanda Wixon, 56, held vulnerable K captive at her family home from the age of 14. K was forced to clean the house and look after Wixon’s children and their pets every day. She was fed on leftovers once a day and forbidden from helping herself to even basic food or using the kettle. In a case described as “Dickensian” by the judge, she was beaten and kicked regularly by Wixon and on several occasions thrown down the stairs. She was also struck in the face with a broom handle, causing her to lose several teeth. On one occasion, Wixon held her head down the toilet while she flushed the chain. K, who referred to her captor as “The Witch”, rarely left the house in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, and the kitchen windows were covered with black bin liners to prevent her looking outside. Her only refuge was a damp, squalid bedroom with a filthy mattress and bedding, Gloucester Crown Court heard during a harrowing two-week trial. K was taken in by Wixon in 1996 because K’s parents, described in court as members of her “extended family”, were having “difficulties”. The teenager was immediately set to work around the busy house, sweeping and scrubbing floors, washing up, cleaning the bathroom and getting the children ready for school. The only time she left the house was for medical appointments and the occasional “trick or treat” night at Halloween, the jury heard. The full horror of K‘s existence only emerged after the traumatised slavery victim found the courage to contact a family member on her mobile phone and told him what was happening. The relative contacted the police who raided the property in March 2021 and found K inside, looking “malnourished and terrified”. All her teeth were missing, from the beatings and lack of dental care, and she had bruising on one of her arms. One officer noted at the time: “She smelt heavily of body odour, even from two metres away. She was malnourished, timid and frightened.” Wixon was arrested immediately, on suspicion of neglect. Summing up, His Honour Judge Ian Lawrie KC told the jury: “There is almost a Dickensian quality to this case. “The prosecution case is that she was held prisoner in this crowded house, where she was regularly assaulted physically and emotionally. “You have to decide whether Mandy, who had young children when she took K in, did it out of selfless kindness towards her or because she was selfish and took advantage of a vulnerable, helpless youngster.” Since her rescue, social workers handling her case, reported that K has put on weight and attends lessons in maths and English at a local college. She also plays football regularly. Locals living on the sprawling housing estate where K was held prisoner for 25 years this week described Wixon as “controlling”. One, who was at school with several of Wixon’s children, said that after taking K in, she tied – and gagged – the teenager to a chair in the attic and only went up to her to feed her once a day “for several years”, after which she was untied for more hours a day over time and put to work as the family’s unpaid skivvy. The neighbour said: “K spent her days and nights scrubbing, sweeping, cleaning and looking after the then-young children.” Few in the area have ever even seen the victim, they say, and had no idea of her existence until Wixon’s arrest. The Wixon family home – at least three of her children still live there – is a large council property on a housing estate on the edge of the town. Windows were open and the garden was unkempt and rubbish was piled up by the front door, despite there being five rubbish bins nearby. Wixon is said by neighbours to be a “scratch card addict”. One said: “ Mandy is on every benefit going and used all her benefits to buy scratchcards. “For many years, she has been on full disability benefits, Despite the fact there is nothing wrong with her. But whenever she had to sign on, out came the walking stick and off she’d hobble into town. She’s a total con-woman. “And she treated her children appallingly. I’d often see her in the street when they were younger and she seemed nasty and vindictive. She’d always be pointing a finger at one of them and yelling at them, telling them how useless and ungrateful they were. “ My heart breaks at the thought of what this poor young woman she treated us a slave must’ve gone through. “Clearly, she was kept indoors all the time. We never even saw anyone other than her children looking out of the windows. It seems incredible that this could’ve been going on right in the middle of a heavily populated housing estate like this one.” Wixon was found guilty by a jury at Gloucester Crown Court for a string of offences including requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, false imprisonment, and assault. She will be sentenced next month.