I grew up in a big city in Nigeria. I had a large family including many siblings and half siblings. When my father passed away, I was around 13 years old, meaning there was no one able to pay my school fees and I could not continue my learning. My family struggled for money; there was a great deal of stress and difficulties within the home environment.
I started to look for whatever work I could find to support myself. I started helping out in a garage and did this for around two years before the garage owner died and there was no longer work for me. I became a street hawker selling biscuits, chocolates and other items on a main highway. By this time my remaining family had been unable to keep up payments on their home. My mother returned to her village leaving me with some family friends.
Whilst hawking, I met a stranger who at the time I felt was kind towards me. The man took me to a church where I began worshipping. After some time this man then introduced me to someone called Mr T. I started spending time around Mr T.
Mr T asked me for the little money I had (my life savings since leaving school - £700) and arranged identity papers for me to be able to travel. The papers were in someone else’s name. I had initially felt that Mr T was nice, but by this point I realised this was just a pretence and he was actually an evil man, a gangster, but there was little choice but to go along with what he said – I agreed to a debt of £4,500 in addition to the money I had already paid.
In January 2003, I arrived in the UK accompanied by Mr T. I had been instructed not to talk to anyone during the journey and once we landed in the UK, Mr T took the identity documents from me.
I was forced to work on farms; picking potatoes and other vegetables. It was hard work and at the end of each day I would be brought back to the same house and forced to clean up and serve Mr T and his wife and children. I was beaten for silly mistakes, threatened with the police and deportation and locked in a room at night often being given some sort of sedative before sleep, which made me feel powerless.
After around two years, I was taken back to the house in London I had arrived in on coming to the UK. I believe that was because he wanted to transfer me somewhere else. There was another man there all the time overseeing me. One day, the man left the door unlocked and I escaped, running like mad. I approached a stranger on the street and asked to use his phone. I had been carrying the contact details of a family acquaintance called Olu living in London. Olu instructed the stranger to take me to the nearest taxi cab office and provided a destination postcode and instructions that he would pay the fare on arrival. I was taken in by this family acquaintance and the man’s wife, living in Tottenham. I lived there from 2005 to 2010 before moving to stay with another family acquaintance – my cousin who had actually settled in London.
Since this period I was supported by those close to me to find a solicitor and apply to the Home Office for Humanitarian Protection. Since arriving in the UK, I have needed to seek support for my health and I’m now having ongoing treatment.
In June 2018, I was referred to Hestia’s Modern Slavery Response Team as a result entering the National Referral Mechanism as a Potential Victim of Trafficking. I await a conclusive grounds decision together with the outcome of my Humanitarian Protection claim.
Peter is writing under a pseudonym to protect his identity