Amanda Wixon

A mother-of-ten who kept a vulnerable teenager as a house slave for more than a quarter of a century has been jailed for 13 years after police uncovered one of the UK’s most shocking modern slavery cases.

Amanda Wixon, 56, subjected the woman to decades of beatings, starvation and psychological control inside a filthy house in Tewkesbury. The victim, now in her mid-40s, was rescued only after a tip-off to police in 2021.

A chilling lie to hide a prisoner

As the years passed and neighbours stopped seeing the woman, Wixon offered a simple explanation: she had moved away.

Detectives say the claim was a calculated lie. Wixon told neighbours and relatives the woman had gone to Scotland with a boyfriend, when in reality she had been locked inside the house and banned even from the garden.

According to investigators, by that stage the victim believed escape was impossible after years of threats, beatings and psychological domination.

Decades of abuse behind closed doors

The woman moved into the home aged just 16 in 1995. What followed, prosecutors said, was more than 25 years of exploitation and brutality.

She was beaten with a broom handle that knocked out her teeth, punched and kicked, and pushed down the stairs. Bleach was thrown in her face and washing-up liquid forced down her throat, while her head was repeatedly shaved against her will.

Food was restricted to scraps and she was forced to wash secretly at night while carrying out domestic labour for the household.

Rescue from ‘absolute squalor’

Police described the house as overcrowded and filthy, with mould on the walls. But the victim’s bedroom was worse — a cramped space detectives described as “absolute squalor”.

Ian Fletcher, a senior detective who has spent nearly three decades in policing, said the case was among the worst he had ever seen.

“She was totally dehumanised,” he said. “She lost the prime of her life.”

No remorse from her abuser

At Gloucester Crown Court, Wixon was convicted of false imprisonment, forced labour and multiple assaults.

Investigators say she has shown no remorse, insisting even after the verdict that she had done nothing wrong.

For the woman who survived 25 years inside the house, detectives say the long process of rebuilding a life has only just begun.

Mum-of-ten's chilling lie before woman kept as slave for 25 years discovered

Only giving this piece of filth 13 years is a disgrace. She has given up her human card and needs to be eliminated.

What a joke.

After that grim story, here is the follow-up.

When police finally freed a woman who had spent a quarter of a century trapped in domestic slavery, the first challenge was learning how to live normally again.

The victim — held for decades by Amanda Wixon in a house in Tewkesbury — arrived in foster care frail, frightened and deeply traumatised. Her carer says the woman recoiled from basic human affection and woke at 3am just to take long, hot showers in a desperate attempt to feel clean.

A body and mind shaped by abuse

The anonymous foster carer recalls a woman who was painfully thin and emotionally withdrawn after years of captivity.

“She was very skinny,” the carer said. “I had to take her to doctors, get appointments and try to feed her and show her love.” Even simple gestures were difficult. “She didn’t want me to hug her.”

Within days, however, the woman began cautiously accepting affection — the first step in rebuilding a life after years of isolation.

Life as a ‘proper slave’

As trust slowly developed, the woman began describing the reality of her captivity.

She had been given scraps of food, forced to carry out endless housework and locked in a room with black bags over the windows to block out light. Her abuser beat her, poured bleach on her face and forced washing-up liquid down her throat.

“She did all the housework — cleaning, ironing, everything,” the carer said. “She was a proper slave.”

Fear that still hasn’t faded

The trauma remains raw. The woman still calls Wixon “the witch” and lives in fear of encountering her.

During the long wait for the case to reach Gloucester Crown Court, she once accidentally ran into her abuser in a supermarket.

“She was hysterical,” the carer said. “Running around, absolutely terrified.”

A system that looked the other way

The carer believes authorities failed to intervene earlier despite warning signs.

At one point the victim tried to reach out for help, but the concern was reportedly brushed aside. “Nobody did anything,” the carer said. “They just left her there to suffer.”

She now wants a wider inquiry into how the abuse went undetected for so long.

Rebuilding a life — step by step

Recovery is slow but visible. The woman is attending college, learning skills she was once denied and travelling abroad for the first time.

Her hair — repeatedly shaved during captivity — has grown long. She dreams of taking a cruise after already visiting the Mediterranean.

“She’s enjoying life now,” the carer said. “I’m trying to show her the life she never had.”

‘She didn’t want me to hug her’: carer of enslaved woman describes her recovery