Trafficked vulnerable adult – drugs charges dropped

SPC were engaged to provide an expert witness statement in the case of a client who had been charged with Class A drug supply offences.

The client grew up in Iran where as a young teen he was arrested, tortured and sexually abused by the authorities. His family paid smugglers to take him to the UK. He claimed asylum but struggled with mental health issues and he turned to drugs, quickly becoming addicted to Class A.

His dealers saw an opportunity and recruited him  to deal on their behalf. His payment was a small amount of free drugs.

On his arrest in his police interview he disclosed a full range of trafficking indicators. However, he was not referred into the NRM and there was no investigation into his trafficking, he was seen as an offender and prosecuted which if successful would have led to his deportation back to Iran.

On receipt of our evidence, which included a full review of the investigation, the Crown dropped all charges.

The client has been clean of drugs for 5 years and he has a job. His legal team are appealing an earlier conviction for drugs supply as we have identified this was also a case of human trafficking for criminal exploitation. This is due to breaches of Article 4 & 6 ECHR. His deportation proceedings have been halted pending the outcome of the appeal.

As former police officers while we fully support our policing colleague we continue to find that victims are not being identified early in investigations. They are treated as suspects from the outset and the clear indications of trafficking are missed. This leads to failed prosecutions and missed opportunities. If we treat individuals as victims we could turn them into witnesses and prosecute drug dealers for human trafficking offences where they could get life imprisonment. Cracked trials waste everybody’s time, cost vast amounts of money and let true victims down.

Investigators need to open their eyes and fulfil their duty to investigate human trafficking and modern slavery.