Monster mum beat and kept woman as slave in her squalid home for 25 years – ‘not sorry’ | UK | News
Monster mother assaulted and held woman as slave for 25 years – ‘not sorry’ (Image: PA Media)
A teenage girl with learning difficulties was held captive as a slave for 25 years at the hands of a monster woman with ten children, a court has heard.
The girl, who is now in her 40s and will remain anonymous, was splashed in the face with bleach, had washing-up liquid poured down her throat, and was beaten with a broom handle, which knocked out her teeth. Her head was also repeatedly shaved against her will. Judge Ian Lawrie said Mandy Wixon’s crimes had a «Dickensian quality» as the court heard she had forced a vulnerable woman to clean her squalid and overcrowded home in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, and made her eat scraps.
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The victim was kept in a filthy room (Image: Gloucestershire Police)
The 56-year-old captor was found guilty of false imprisonment, requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Gloucester Crown Court. She had denied all charges.
The victim was found by police on 15 March 2021, after one of Wixon’s sons raised concerns for her welfare. When officers found her, she had scarring on her lips and face from bleach, and large calluses on her feet and ankles from being on her hands and knees cleaning floors. They likened her bedroom to a «prison cell».
She told officers: «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.»
Like many in the house, she had lost some of her teeth, and a dentist noted she would have been in agony for years due to untreated infections and abscesses. Doctors also said the victim was malnourished.
Det Sgt Alex Pockett said: «When the police arrived, the victim had her head held down, it was clear she was extremely scared.»
At times, there had been 13 people living in the house, and officers said the other bedrooms were also untidy and dirty.
The court heard that the woman was placed under the care of Wixon when she was about 16 in 1996, after being born into a troubled family. Wixon was said to have had a loose connection to her family.
Police said Wixon had also received the victim’s benefits in her bank account from the late 1990s, totalling a «considerable sum» over the years.
Sam Jones, prosecuting, told the jury: «By the late 1990s it appears the woman disappeared into a black hole. Not a single meeting that left a record or a single sighting of her outside the house.»
When asked if she had anything to say to her victim as she left court, she replied: «Not a lot.» When reporters asked if she was sorry, Wixon responded: «No. I never done it.»
Reporters also asked if she was a «monster», to which she responded: «Say what you think.» She has been released on conditional bail and will be sentenced on 12 March.
Since being found, Det Con Emma Jackson from Gloucestershire Police said the victim was «flourishing» and living a healthy life. She had been placed with a foster family, started to attend college and had been on holidays.
Laura Burgess, a senior prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service, said: «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.»
