Slave-masters used trafficking victims to catch chickens at British farms

A pair of slave-masters who used trafficked Lithuanian men to catch chickens on free-range farms have been ordered to pay them compensation.

Darrell Houghton and Jackie Judge were previously ordered to pay six of their former workers £1 million in compensation for loss of wages and poor working conditions after they brought a High Court action in 2016.

Now, a second group of ten former employees have also won a High Court ruling.

Houghton and Judge, who ran DJ Houghton Catching Services, hired out their slaves to unsuspecting poultry farmers all over the country, to catch and move the hens.

The cruel pair used rottweilers to force them to catch chickens ad also withheld wages if the ‘workers’ left even one dirty cup in the sink at their sub-standard lodgings at the farm in Linton, Kent.

The company was initially raided by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority in 2014 but police dropped criminal charges against them saying there was insufficient evidence of criminal action.

The High Court found that the number of hours worked hugely exceeded the ‘entirely fictional’ number of hours recorded on payslips and that wages were withheld as a form of punishment.

The workers claimed they were harassed, assaulted, and threatened by supervisors and housed in ‘appalling conditions’.

Workers said they were punched and taunted and that there was no respite from the harassment because they were housed in accommodation which the couple had constant access to.

The workers were forced to sleep in the back of a mini-bus between farms and were controlled by a specific Lithuanian ‘enforcer’ who would threaten to put them on the street if they stepped out of line.

The court also ruled that Houghton and Judge were personally liable to the workers for their treatment.

Honourable Mr Justice Lane said that Houghton and Judge ‘cannot have honestly believed that what was being done to the chicken-catchers was morally or legally sound.’

Mary Westmacott, the solicitor representing the former slaves, said: ‘I’m delighted that the individuals responsible for my clients’ appalling exploitation have finally been held to account in court.

‘This case highlights how victims of modern slavery are hidden in plain sight in the UK.

‘Everyone can help prevent this abuse by being vigilant and reporting it.’

The couple and their Lithuanian middle-man Edikas Mankevicius are still facing a criminal trial in Lithuania, due to begin on September 3.