A woman has been sentenced to 13 years in jail for modern slavery offences after she kept a learning-disabled person prisoner in her home for 25 years.
In January 2026, a jury at Gloucester Crown Court found Amanda Wixon, a 56-year-old mother of 10, guilty of one count of false imprisonment, two counts of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour and three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Wixon had forced the victim to do manual labour, assaulted her regularly and deprived her of food and healthcare.
The woman Wixon held in her house for 25 years was a learning disabled person, whose name we do not know. Now in her 40s, she knew Wixon through family connections and had spent time with her family as a child. When she was 16, she went to Wixon’s house to stay for a weekend in 1996, where she was detained and never allowed to leave.
For 25 years, Wixon kept the woman in filthy conditions, locking her in and depriving her of food, healthcare and dental care.
She was discovered at the house by police in March 2021. She was found by police in March 2021, following a call from one of Wixon’s sons who was concerned about her welfare.
When the police arrived, she told them: “I don’t want to be here. I don’t feel safe. Mandy hits me all the time. I don’t like it. I haven’t washed for years. She doesn’t let me.”
The evidence shared in court was very distressing. The woman’s access to food was limited; she was allowed only one meal a day, usually leftover food or scraps. She would hide sweet foods to eat in secret when she was hungry.
For 25 years, she was held in filthy conditions, deprived of food and of health and dental care
The woman was not allowed to leave the house. She was expected to bathe the children in the home but she was forbidden from washing herself, having to wash secretly at night.
The woman was made to clean Wixon’s house and, when the police discovered her, she had calluses on her feet and ankles from constantly being on her hands and knees cleaning floors.
Wixon had claimed the woman’s benefits since 2000 and they were paid into Wixon’s bank account. She did not pass the money onto the woman, forcing her to live in poverty and wear clothes passed down to her.
The woman was expected to care for Wixon’s children and carry out domestic chores, such as serve the family their meals, wash the family’s clothes and do the washing-up.
When police officers went to the house, they described the bedroom the woman was living in as like a prison cell. Other bedrooms were dirty and untidy.
The video footage from the police officers’ cameras captured the woman, showing her to be thin, timid, unwashed and scared.
She also had a bruise that she said Wixon had inflicted on her. The court heard the woman had been beaten regularly by Wixon.
Dickensian story
She told police that Wixon had strangled her and put her head down the toilet. She had bleach splashed in her face, had her head repeatedly shaved against her will and had washing-up liquid squirted down her throat.
Wixon had hit the woman in the face with a broom handle, causing her to lose her teeth. She had been denied healthcare and dental care for decades.
Judge Ian Lawrie said there was a “Dickensian quality” to the story as Wixon was found guilty.
Laura Burgess, a senior district crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Amanda Wixon subjected the victim in this case to decades of unimaginable cruelty, exploitation and control.
“She was denied her freedom, her dignity and even the most basic autonomy. The progress she has made since being removed from this oppressive environment is a testament to her strength.
“Our thoughts remain with her as she continues to rebuild her life, and I hope she can find some comfort in seeing justice delivered today.”
Detective Constable Emma Jackson from Gloucestershire Police said: “Wixon kept an extremely vulnerable victim captive in appalling conditions for over two decades.
“Instead of caring for her, as she was supposed to, she exploited her and forced her to work in domestic servitude whilst subjecting her to the most cruel and inhumane treatment.
“I commend the victim in this case for reaching out for help. Knowing all too well what the violent consequences would have been if she’d been caught, it was incredibly courageous of her.
“I’m pleased to say that the victim, with the help of her wonderful Shared Lives carer, is now flourishing. She’s healthy and enjoying the freedoms Wixon denied her of for so long.”
How could this happen?
Sam Jones, acting for the prosecution case in court, told the jury that the woman had in effect “disappeared from society”.
Social services had been involved with the family in the late 1990s, but there were no records of any contact since then. There were also no medical or dental records for the woman.
She was denied her freedom, her dignity and even the most basic autonomy. I hope she can find some comfort in seeing justice delivered
No records
Jones said: “The fact remains that nothing was done by social services… The lack of records from the hospital, the doctor and the dentist or any involvement with social services for 20 years provides further support of her never being allowed to leave
the house.
“By the late 1990s, it appears the woman disappeared into a black hole. Not a single meeting that left a record.”
How can a learning disabled 16-year-old just disappear and no one notice? As yet, no safeguarding adults review looking at this case has been published.
