Filthy, freezing six-foot shed where father and son kept man as a slave for 40 YEARS

A father and son who kept a man as a slave for 40 years has avoided being sent to prison.

Peter Swailes was given a nine-month prison term, suspended for 18 months in court this morning, for his sickening crimes.

He was initially charged alongside his 80-year-old father, also called Peter Swailes, with Modern Slavery Offences - but his father died last year shortly before standing trial.

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Both men had denied the charges, which included conspiring to arrange or facilitate the travel of an individual between 2015 and 2019 with a view to him being exploited.

But Peter Swailes Jr later pleaded guilty to the offence at Carlisle Crown Court last month, and was sentenced today.

The dad and son's crimes were uncovered after a three-year investigation by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), supported by Cumbria Police and the National Crime Agency (NCA), after a man was found living in a 6ft shed on a residential site north of Carlisle.

Investigators carried out a search warrant at Hadrian’s Caravan Park on October 3, 2018 and discovered the small green wooden shed next to the caravan.

They found there was no heating in the cramped shed, with a soiled duvet on the floor and a metered television.

They knocked on the door and were greeted by the victim, who appeared dishevelled and agitated before telling officers he had lived there for 40 years.

The victim then asked if he could have a wash, indicating that he washed in a kitchen sink in a building next to his shed, the GLLA said.

The Authority say the shed was in a ‘poor’ condition with just one window which could not be fully closed. It was in complete darkness when