Shocking Case: Mum-of-10 Kept Woman as Slave for 25 Years

Mum-of-10 kept woman as slave for 25 years and forced her to care for her kids Amanda Wixon, 56, took in her victim in 1997 when she was in secondary school and kept her as a slave at her suburban home in Gloucestershire for 25 years, a court was told A mum faces jail after keeping a woman imprisoned for a quarter century in horrific conditions at her home. Amanda Wixon, 56, from Tewkesbury, took in her victim, her friend’s daughter, in 1997 . She was not released from captivity inside Wixon's suburban home until March 2021, after Wixon's son called the police. Wixon was found guilty of six charges, including compulsory labour, false imprisonment and assault, by a jury at Gloucester Crown Court. The woman was not allowed out for more than two decades, the court head, as Wixon locked the doors and windows. The woman was also forced to look after Wixon's children and her captor forced her to clean the house. The court heard how Wixon’s prisoner was still in secondary school, aged just 16, when she first took her in. The victim made voice notes about her ordeal on a hidden phone, as Wixon forced her to live in unsanitary conditions. She also shaved the woman’s head, hit her with a broom and forced washing up liquid down her throat, the prosecution said. Officers found the prisoner at Wixon’s address, now in her 40s, with bruises and no teeth - thanks to beatings from Wixon - and she had been forced to sleep in a mouldy and damp bedroom which was likened to a prison cell in court. She appeared timid and unwashed in bodyworn footage from officers, and she told officers the last time she bathed had been over a year previously. Wixon was convicted of multiple counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm as well as false imprisonment and requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour. She showed no emotion when the verdict was read out. A jury acquitted her of one assault charge but found her guilty of the others. Judge Ian Lawrie KC told her a jail term was 'a certainty' as he granted Wixon conditional bail ahead of her sentencing hearing in March. The family home in the Priors Park area of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, shared by Wixon and her ten children, was described as overcrowded, in a squalid condition, with mould on the walls, plaster hanging off and rubbish in the back garden. Sam Jones, prosecuting, told the jury: “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 had been denied food and the ability to wash over many years.” Judge Ian Lawrie KC said there was a “Dickensian quality” to the story after the woman, who has learning difficulties, left her own “dysfunctional family”. When officers arrived, following a tipoff from one of Wixon’s sons, the victim told police: "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." Edward Hollingsworth, defending, described the prosecution case as a “tale of fantasy and lies” and suggested there was a “child-like fantasy” to the woman’s allegations. “The life of Amanda Wixon was much more complicated and nuanced,” he said. “Her other children were not vaccinated, not attending school, and had rotting teeth and head lice.” He said they all lived in squalid conditions and the other children’s bedrooms were equally as bad. “The truth is, that just like Mandy and others in the family, their teeth rotted out by neglect, and has been inflated to a story of violent abuse,” he said. The court heard social services were involved with the family in the late 1990s but there were no records of any contact since. The woman also had no medical or dental records and had not seen a doctor in two decades. “The fact remains that nothing was done by social services,” Mr Jones said. “The lack of records from the hospital, the doctor and the dentist or any involvement with social services for 20 years provides further support of her never being allowed to leave the house... 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.” The victim's Body Mass Index was “very close” to being underweight when police found her, and like many living in the house the woman had lost many of her teeth due to poor dental hygiene. Since being rescued, the woman is now living with a foster family, attending college and has been on holidays abroad. She has suffered nightmares about her ordeal, and has a constant wish to clean, the court was told.