Fraud investigator wails as she is jailed for enslaving ‘house girl’

Jailed: Afolake Adeniji, seen here during the trial, wailed at her sentencing
central news

A JobCentre fraud investigator who kept a young Nigerian woman as a slave for more than a decade apologised to her as she was jailed for 30 months.

Afolake Adeniji, 50, flew Iyabo Prosper from Nigeria to London in 2003 when she was 13, offering her an education and a chance to escape poverty.

But Iyabo was woken at 5.30am each morning to cook and clean for Adeniji’s family and look after her children, often working for 16 hours a day.

Southwark crown court heard that Iyabo was left miserable, depressed and contemplating suicide after years as a “house girl” under Adeniji.

Adeniji, who lost her job as a senior fraud investigator for the Department for Work and Pensions, based at a Plaistow JobCentre, when the criminal case came to light, collapsed and let out a long wail as she was sentenced on Friday. She had insisted during her trial that Iyabo was lying and had been welcomed into her family, but at the sentencing hearing she apologised for forcing her into slavery.

“She wishes to express her sincere apologies for everything that happened to Iyabo during her stay at Ms Adeniji’s address,” said her lawyer, Laurie-Anne Power.

Sentencing Adeniji, Judge Stephen Robbins said: “You subjected a young girl to a life of domestic servitude for a lengthy period… You used her for your own ends, you exploited her.”

Iyabo, who is now 27, eventually told a friend about her treatment and went to the police in 2014.

Adeniji, of no fixed address but previously of Chelmsford, was convicted of arranging or facilitating the travel to the UK of a person with a view to exploitation. She was cleared of GBH.

To join our call to action against modern slavery, go to: standard.co.uk/slaveryaction

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