Gang jailed over 'shocking' McDonald's slavery case

Three gang members who trafficked 12 people from eastern Europe have been jailed after being convicted of trafficking and modern slavery.

Men and women had been forced to work in various places including McDonald’s in Caxton, Cambridgeshire, and at a bakery in Hertfordshire, prosecutors said.

Zdenek Drevenak, 47, was given a 13-year jail term, Jiri Cernohous, 49, a nine -year term and Martin Slovjak, 46, a four-year term at Southwark Crown Court.

All three, who come from the Czech Republic and lived in Enfield, north London, were found guilty at Southwark Crown Court in May.

"The victims, who spoke little or no English, were forced to work in various roles at a bakery in Hoddesdon, a car wash, a McDonald’s restaurant, as well as carry out domestic household tidying and cleaning," said a spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) after Friday's sentencing.

"The wages earned were routinely withheld from the victims aside from the occasional release of a derisory sum."

She said "vulnerable" people from the Czech Republic and Slovakia were "often selected" from "poor or rural" backgrounds with a "view to being exploited".

They had been housed in Enfield, she added.

Specialist prosecutor Kate Mulholland said victims were "controlled and manipulated" in the "most despicable way".

She described the case as "shocking... [they] may not have been under lock and key, but their ability to escape was undermined by the various methods of control – and as a result they remained trapped in ‘invisible handcuffs’".

The CPS said victims had passports and identity documents confiscated.

Gang members went on trial after an investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

A recent BBC report told how signs of modern slavery, including paying the wages of four men into one bank account, were missed and victims were exploited for more than four years.

McDonald’s UK said it had improved systems for spotting "potential risks", while the British Retail Consortium said its members would learn from the case.

The CPS said a fourth gang member also convicted of similar offences, Monika Daducova, 44, also living in Enfield, would be sentenced on a date to be fixed.

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