A couple living in Warrington have been jailed after pleading guilty to human trafficking and modern slavery charges.
Robertas Repsas and Rita Jablonskaite, of Westland Drive, made one of their two victims sleep in a tiny cupboard under the stairs.
The 50-year-old man, who spoke very little English, lived with the couple for nine months after being trafficked from their native Lithuania, originally doing housework, gardening and running errands for them before working for Jablonskaite’s cleaning company and later for a Warrington-based recruitment agency.
He was never given access to his wage slips or the money he earned.
Repsas and Jablonskaite had total control over the man and his wages, and they even applied for loans in his name.
Sleeping in highly cramped conditions with no ventilation or a window and having no access to money despite earning an average wage of around £400 a week, the victim flagged up his plight to a friend after finding a mobile phone whilst working for a recycling company in St Helens.
An investigation was launched and officers visited the victim whilst he was doing a shift at the recycling company before speaking to him, via an interpreter, at Widnes Police Station.
After finding that he had an unkempt appearance, did not own his own clothing and was wearing tracksuit bottoms that did not fit him, the officers safeguarded the victim before raiding the house he had been living in in March 2018.
Repsas, 31, and Jablonskaite, 34, were arrested at the address and questioned in custody.
They were subsequently released under investigation pending further enquiries.
Just months later, in August 2018, officers had cause to go to the couple’s home and while there they discovered and safeguarded a second victim.
The 51-year-old woman, who could not speak English, had also been trafficked from Lithuania.
She had been living on the couple’s sofa for several weeks as their housekeeper and live-in nanny.
She also did work for Jablonskaite’s company, cleaning people’s flats.
Despite being promised a weekly wage, the victim received no money from the couple.
The couple also reneged on their promise to keep her mobile phone topped up so that she could keep in contact with her family in Lithuania.
She had come to England to live with the couple after being told that she would be able to work and raise money for her family.
Both victims were given access to food whilst living with the couple, though the woman told officers that she only ate at lunch.
But the couple took their identification off them when they first arrived in Warrington – via a private minibus and a ferry from Calais to Dover – and never gave them a key to their home.
The court heard that both victims felt as though they could not leave the couple’s home without permission.
Detective Inspector Julie Jackson, of the Hidden Harm Team based at Warrington Police Station, said: “The two vulnerable victims in this case were sold on the idea of coming to England to work and earn money whilst living with a family from their homeland.
“But they ended up being controlled and exploited by Robertas Repsas and Rita Jablonskaite, working excessive hours and not having any money to show for it.
“With them having had their identification taken off them, speaking very little English, being totally dependent on the offenders and having no way of contacting anyone in Lithuania, both victims felt trapped.
“Thankfully, the first victim, who was initially living in the offenders’ attic before having to sleep in a downstairs cupboard when they moved to a different house in Warrington, found a mobile phone whilst at work and used it to report what he was being subjected to, first to a friend and then to the Lithuanian embassy.
“Those phone calls paved the way for him, and latterly the second victim, to be safeguarded and for the couple who subjected them to modern slavery to be brought to justice.
“The second victim was trafficked, controlled and exploited whilst the couple knew they were being investigated for doing the same to the first victim.
“This beggars belief and shows that the couple believed that they were above the law as they took advantage of vulnerable people for financial and domestic gain.
“I am delighted that the pair are now behind bars facing the consequences of their actions and I hope this case reassures the community that we take reports of human trafficking and modern slavery extremely seriously.
“I also hope that it deters others from committing similar offences.”
