‘I was beaten and treated like a dog by my boss’

A victim of modern slavery says he was forced to crawl naked through sewers to steal electricity after trusting bogus employers in desperate times.

Hakan, not his real name, is now living in a safe house in north-east England but was enslaved for a decade, experiencing regular beatings and abuse.

The Salvation Army, which holds the government’s modern slavery victim care contract for England and Wales, said the number of victims it had seen was going up and had helped 229 people in the North East alone.

The Home Office said it was “driving forward” reforms to the modern slavery system.

Now in his 40s, Hakan first arrived in Britain on a tourist visa from Turkey in 2006 to see his then-girlfriend, who was pregnant with their child.

He said when the relationship broke down and his immigration status was being sorted, he became homeless and “without options”.

Hakan was offered a job at a restaurant by the owner, who said he would arrange a work visa and ID for him.

He worked long hours but was never given a payslip and was frequently beaten up by the owner.

“I was working 19 hours a day for four years,” he said. “You are like his dog, his slave.”

Hakan discovered the ID his boss had given him was fake when he went to the job centre.

“When I told him I’d go to the police, he sent men to beat me,” he said.

“The police rescued me and told me to move away from him, so I fled to London.”

Homeless and queuing for food, Hakan said he was then approached by a group of men and asked if he wanted to work in construction.

He lived in a caravan for more than six years working for a group of travellers resurfacing driveways.

During an inspection, a trading standards officer noticed Hakan wanted to speak and slipped him a piece of paper, he said.

“Back at the travellers’ base, they searched me, found the paper and destroyed it and beat me,” he said.

“I lost my first tooth that day, and over the next six and a half years, I lost another 15 teeth from their beatings.”

Hakan recalled: “They made me crawl naked through sewers to steal electricity by moving cables – then jet washed me when I came out.”

He finally escaped from the gang over Christmas 2022, and was referred to the Salvation Army for help.

Modern slavery was happening in “towns, villages and cities”, the Salvation Army said.

Director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery Major Kathy Betteridge said it was “hidden in plain sight”.

The increase in victims the organisation had supported “clearly identifies the gravity of the situation and indicates that people are becoming more aware that people are being trapped into modern slavery”, she said.

A Home Office spokesperson said it was “driving forward” reforms to the modern slavery system.

“We have cut the backlog in the system that identifies and supports survivors by 69%, expanding programmes to speed up decision making times for support and strengthening the police responses.”