For someone new to the issue of modern slavery, it might be easy to wonder: Why don’t victims just walk away? The truth is, the reality of this horrendous crime means that leaving is far from easy. Traffickers use both psychological and physical control to create a web of fear, manipulation, and dependency to trap victims. Debi Lloyd, our Head of UK Counter Trafficking Operations, leads Justice & Care’s Victim Navigator programme and has years of experience working with survivors. In this interview, she shares why walking away from an exploitative situation can be extremely difficult – and how by learning the signs of human trafficking, we could all help someone to find freedom.

Justice & Care and 13 other leading charities have issued an urgent warning to the UK Home Secretary over proposed changes to modern slavery legislation within the government’s new asylum and returns policy. In a new letter, the organisations caution that framing modern slavery protections through an immigration lens risks diverting focus from safeguarding, weakening accountability for traffickers, and stopping victims from being identified and supported. Around 122,000 victims are estimated to currently be in exploitation in the UK alone.

BBC’s Crimewatch Live has aired a segment exposing a harrowing human trafficking case in the UK – and the vital role Justice & Care played in supporting survivors to secure a 74-year sentence for their exploiters.  The case involved up to 25 women, many of them British, who were sexually exploited by a Romanian organised crime group operating in Dundee, Scotland.  The women were groomed through the ‘Loverboy’ tactic – coerced into sexual activity under the illusion of romantic relationships. They were plied with crack cocaine and alcohol, with the gang using their growing addictions as a method to control and trap them in a cycle of sexual abuse.

Tumpa**, a young student in Bangladesh, dreams of pursuing a degree in law and becoming an advocate for human trafficking survivors. Like many others, she is driven by a keen sense of justice. But for her, this fight is personal, as she has first-hand experience of this brutal crime.

This Spring, donations* to Justice & Care will be doubled through our match-funding campaign – Her Future, which shines a light on the disproportionate impact of modern slavery on women and girls. Donate between April 16 and May 31 to double your impact and support survivors on their journey to freedom, justice and empowerment. Anyone can be a victim of slavery, but did you know women and girls are disproportionately impacted?

Landmark legislation will make cuckooing a crime in England and Wales after more than three years of determined campaigning from Justice & Care and The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).  We welcome the government’s announcement that both cuckooing and child criminal exploitation will be part of a new Crime and Policing Bill, set to be introduced in Parliament this week, and we are looking forward to seeing the details of it.  Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has confirmed the cuckooing offence will carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison, while the standalone CCE offence will carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.

The UK’s Safeguarding Minister, Jess Phillips, has spoken about the ‘clear passion’ of Justice & Care’s Victim Navigator Team and their desire to work with police to pursue traffickers. She made her comments following a visit to see our groundbreaking project first hand – to help understand the impact the programme is making.   The Minister met in Leicestershire with our CEO James Clarry, Head of Policy and Advocacy, Tatiana Gren-Jardan and members of our Victim Navigator team to learn about our work helping survivors of modern slavery to rebuild their lives and secure justice against their traffickers.

Meet the Willy Wonka fanatic who has Got a Golden Ticket, and much, much more. Nick Franklin, 44, is believed to have the biggest private Willy Wonka collection in the world – and it comes in at a scrumdiddly­umptious £125,000. The dedicated ‘Wonka Wing’ in his house boasts hundreds of items from the 1971 film and Johnny Depp’s 2005 remake – and he already has a few bits and pieces from the upcoming movie starring Timothée Chalamet, despite it not being released for another year.

A devastated mum who lost her ‘precious’ 20-year-old daughter to suicide claims she was ‘failed’ by Newcastle University and two police forces. Hilary Grime, 57, suffered pain ‘beyond her human capacity’ when university student Phoebe took her own life and died on June 5, 2021. Northumbria Police and Kent Police took a combined six hours to contact Hilary to say her daughter was in hospital – as panicked doctors warned her life was ‘slipping away’.

People living on the streets are ‘freezing, blue, shivering and scared’ and some will freeze to death, as more sub-zero temperatures are predicted this winter, a grassroots group has warned. Streets Kitchen volunteers, who head out every day to deliver essential items, are still seeing 50 to 70 homeless people outside a day in different parts of London. Those delivering aid say they have been left with the impossible decision of ‘who gets a sleeping pod and who doesn’t’, with snow and icy conditions gripping the UK over the past week.

A Ukrainian four-year-old suffering from cancer has made it safely to the UK – but still fears Vladimir Putin’s troops from 2,000 miles away. Zlata Tkachenko, who has acute leukaemia, spent the first weeks of the war sheltering in a hospital basement as bombs fell overhead in Kharkiv. Her mum Alina, 31, has thanked ’angel’ NHS workers for ‘helping us through tragedy’ after the family was evacuated to Liverpool, where Zlata was able to celebrate her fourth birthday. But the ‘little warrior’ still faces an uphill battle, with 18 months of cancer treatment still ahead as she comes to terms with the trauma of the war.

It was April 10, 1981 when a crowd in south London erupted following rumours of police mistreatment of a black man. The unrest saw around 5,000 people take to the streets, nearly 300 police officers and 60 others injured, and 150 buildings damaged or destroyed. History remembers it as the Brixton ‘riots’ – but many who were there say this label risks ignoring the decades of police brutality and racism suffered by a community that was ‘crying out for a bit of peace’. Lessons must be learned so

A community centre which offers free food to families struggling with the cost of living crisis has blamed ‘social cleansing’ after being ‘evicted’ from three sites in seven years. Parents fighting to put food on the table use volunteer-run Homegrown in Tottenham, north London for its free food hub, Saturday school and advocacy service. The project has become a safe haven and ‘second family’ for people on low incomes, those from ethnic minority backgrounds and refugees.

A Ukrainian soldier says it feels like Russian troops have little interest in seizing land, but instead want a ‘genocide’ of his people. Today marks exactly six months since Russia invaded its neighbour on February 24, and coincides with Ukraine’s Independence Day – a celebration of the day it broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991. Half a year after he ordered his Army to attack, Vladimir Putin now controls 20% of Ukraine.

A Ukrainian family has faced tragedy as a dad is shot by Russians on the frontline while his four-year-old son battles cancer. Dmytro Vasyliovvch Kurylyak, 31, is being treated in Odessa after putting his life on the line in the charge against Vladimir Putin’s six-month campaign of terror. Meanwhile, his little boy, Maksym has spent most of the war sheltering from bombs in a Kyiv hospital basement while bravely facing his own fight against leukaemia.

Britain’s leading Muslim organisation says the new prime minister must treat ‘systemic’ Islamophobia within the Tory party seriously after ‘an alarming radio silence’ on the issue from Boris Johnson, and little discussion on it within the leadership contest so far. The outgoing British leader should have apologised in his resignation speech last week for letting down the Muslim community, as well as many other people across the UK, the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain believes.

Chris Smith remembers walking out on stage in 1984, scared stiff and hands shaking. He had written a ‘very boring’ speech on the train as he travelled to speak at a gay rights rally – but 10 minutes before he was due to speak, he made a snap decision. Rather than make comments that would be forgotten within days, he was going to make history. After walking up to the platform, he told his crowd: ‘Good afternoon. My name is Chris Smith. I’m the Labour MP for Islington, South Finsbury and I’m gay’.

A transgender woman who was strapped to a wooden chair and given electric shocks ‘to cure her’ has suggested government ministers try conversion therapy and ‘see if they still think it’s acceptable’ for trans people. Carolyn Mercer had attempted to take her own life shortly before she was put through the abhorrent practice aged just 17. More than fifty years later, the 74-year-old is thriving, living openly as her true self with a loving family and a successful career. But she still struggles to feel positive emotions and says ‘the only person I ever hated is myself’.