A man kept as a slave for 40 years and found in a 6ft shed in Carlisle is slowly rebuilding his life, according to the charity helping him.
The victim, known as Chris, is being supported by City Hearts.
It told Sky News that the 61-year-old man is enjoying going for walks and as a football fan, catching up on the World Cups he has missed.
Peter Swailes Jr, 56, admitted his part in exploiting the man a day before the trial was due to begin and he was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court yesterday to a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.
Swailes will undertake 25 days of rehabilitation activity during the 18-month period.
His father Peter Swailes Sr had denied the same offence but died aged 81 before he could face trial.
Chris lived in a horse box and rotten 6ft wooden shed as he was exploited for up to 40 years.
Specialist officers found the traumatised and vulnerable man and his outbuilding living quarters which comprised just a chair and soiled bedding when they raided a residential side north of Carlisle at dawn in October 2018, following a tip-off from a member of the public.
In care until he was aged 18, he was then invited to work for the late Peter Swailes senior.
“He had little understanding of the world around him,” prosecutor Barbara Webster told Carlisle Crown Court as she described the victim being found.
“He was ill equipped to deal with adult life, could not manage alone and had no clue as to the complexities of the value of money, wages, taxes or anything else.
“He was found by the police living in a rotten shed, with water pouring through it, with a makeshift bed, and congealed vomit in the corner.”
He had, over time, lived in a horse box, disused caravan and, for the five years up to 2018, the shed which had no heating, lighting or proper flooring.
This was in stark contrast to a next-door shed in far better condition which housed the family dog.
He was vulnerable and had an IQ of 59 which was in the lowest one per cent of the population.
City Hearts, which has been supporting Chris since his ordeal, has put him in a safe house where he was taught to cook and use a washing machine.
Caseworker Kyle France told Sky News: “He was exhausted when he arrived. He was timid and scared, like a deer in headlights. He didn’t realise the severity of what had happened to him.
“When he first arrived, sorting out his hygiene was a priority.
“It was clear he hadn’t had a wash in a very, very long time. He needed a shave, he needed clothes. He just really needed looking after.”
He told City Hearts he was kept padlocked inside the shed when he wasn’t working, had no access to a shower or heating, and his only toilet was a bucket.
He told officers from the GLAA he did farm work, painting, slating and tarmacking, and was paid as little as £10 per day, Sky News reports.
During one of his painting jobs, Chris fell from a ladder and broke his back and ribs.
He was taken to hospital, but was removed by those who held him captive before being discharged and dragged back to his life of exploitation.
Martin Plimmer, senior investigating officer on the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority investigation, said he had “never known a modern slavery case where the exploitation has taken place over such a long period of time”.
He added: “For four decades, he was in effect kept as a slave.”
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