A family-run human trafficking gang went undetected for years because it compelled 16 slavery victims to toil at McDonald’s and a manufacturing unit supplying main supermarkets.
Ernest Drevenak and Veronika Bubencikova, each 46, had been discovered to have began exploiting the lads from the Czech Republic in 2015 – however had been solely caught in 2019. Drevenak is alleged to have run the gang alongside his brother Zdenek.
Their victims – who had been homeless, unemployed or in very low-paid jobs within the Czech Republic – had been dropped at the UK with the promise of a greater life.
Some had been then put to work in Caxton, Cambridgeshire, at a department of McDonald’s – with the quick meals chain now promising it had improved programs to identify ‘potential dangers’.
Others had been made to work for a manufacturing unit offering bread for top road supermarkets, a BBC investigation discovered.
A gang compelled 16 human trafficking victims to work at a McDonald’s department and a bread manufacturing unit, a probe has discovered – together with two (pictured) who’ve waived their anonymity
Two brothers Ernest and Zdenek Drevenak have been convicted for main the slavery gang
9 of the victims had been put to work at a department of McDonald’s in Caxton, Cambridgeshire
There have been 16 slavery victims, the company revealed – with 9 working on the McDonald’s department and 9 on the pitta bread agency which had factories in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, and Tottenham in north London.
Two of these concerned had been employed by each McDonald’s and Speciality Flatbread, the latter of which is not working.
They’re mentioned to have been paid at the least the nationwide minimal wage, solely to have virtually all of their money stolen by the felony enterprise accountable for them.
And the victims spent their days residing in cramped lodging together with a leaking shed and an unheated caravan, even because the gang leaders had been lavishing their earnings on luxurious automobiles and gold jewelry.
Warning indicators had been missed for years by officers, the BBC reported – such because the victims’ wages being paid into accounts beneath different individuals’s names.
Funds meant for at the least 4 of the staff, including as much as £215,000, had been mentioned to have gone into an account managed by the slave-trading gang.
These trafficked right here from the Czech Republic couldn’t communicate English, with a gang member finishing their job functions and sitting in on interviews to translate.
And the McDonald’s staff had been discovered to have been working as many as between 70 and 100 hours per week.
9 victims lived in the identical terraced house in Enfield, north London, whereas working for the bakery agency.
Dame Sara Thornton, the previous unbiased anti-slavery commissioner, advised the BBC after reviewing the investigation’s findings: ‘It actually considerations me that so many crimson flags had been missed, and that perhaps the businesses didn’t do sufficient to guard susceptible staff.
Det Sgt Chris Acourt, who led a probe by Cambridgeshire Police, advised of there being ‘large alternatives’ missed to uncover the gang sooner.
He mentioned: ‘In the end, we may have been in a state of affairs to finish that exploitation a lot earlier had we been made conscious.’
The gang was led by brothers Ernest and Zdenek Drevenak, who had been discovered to have seized the passports of their victims whereas managed them by worry and violence.
One sufferer named Pavel, who waived his proper to anonymity, advised the BBC how he was first approached by the gang whereas homeless within the Czech Republic in 2016 and tempted by the promise of a well-paid job in Britain.
But he discovered himself working 70 hours every week at McDonald’s whereas given only a few kilos per day.
Pavel mentioned: ‘You possibly can’t undo the harm to my psychological well being – it would all the time stay with me.
Slavery gang ringleader Ernest Drevenak has been jailed for 12 and a half years
Veronika Bubencikova has been sentenced to 10 and a half years behind bars for her position
‘We had been afraid. If we had been to flee and go house, [Ernest Drevenak] has loads of buddies in our city – half the city had been his mates.’
He added: ‘I do really feel partially exploited by McDonald’s as a result of they didn’t act,” he mentioned.
‘I assumed if I used to be working for McDonalds, that they might be a little bit bit extra cautious, that they are going to discover it.’
The British Retail Consortium mentioned: ‘It will be significant that the retail business learns from instances like this to repeatedly strengthen due diligence.’
McDonald’s UK advised the BBC that the Caxton outlet’s present franchisee was solely ‘uncovered to the complete depth of those horrific, complicated and complicated crimes’ whereas co-operating with police and prosecutors.
The agency mentioned it cared ‘deeply’ about all staff and vowed that – working with franchisees – it will ‘play our half alongside authorities, NGOs [non-governmental organisations] and wider society to assist fight the evils of recent slavery’.
McDonald’s UK additionally advised of commissioning an unbiased evaluation final October and had acted to enhance its capability to ‘detect and deter potential dangers’ together with ‘shared financial institution accounts, extreme working hours, and reviewing the usage of interpreters in interviews’.
Drevenak and Bubencikova pleaded not responsible to 6 counts of holding an individual in slavery or servitude, 5 counts of arranging or facilitating journey of one other individual with a view to exploitation, and fraud by false illustration.
They had been discovered responsible final October after a trial at Cambridge Crown Courtroom, with Drevenak jailed for 12 and a half years and Bubencikova for ten and a half years, Cambridgeshire Police mentioned in a press release at present.
It’s estimated the couple stole at the least £200,000 from the lads over the four-year interval. Reporting on the case has been prevented till now because of reporting restrictions.
Detective Constable Nick Webber, of Cambridgeshire Police, mentioned: ‘This case goes to indicate that sadly slavery can occur wherever.
‘Drevenak and Bubencikova preyed on susceptible individuals within the Czech Republic who had been down on their luck. The concept of labor and lodging within the UK was the dream they had been bought – one thing they did not really feel they may flip down.
‘Drevenak and Bubencikova pretended to befriend the victims and acted as if they had been doing them a favour, whereas on a regular basis stealing 1000’s of kilos from them. Their crimes may have a big and long-lasting influence on the victims.
‘We now have been working carefully with McDonald’s throughout this investigation. After they recognised the loophole that allowed these offences to happen, they put measures in place to stop it occurring once more, and have offered important help when relocating the victims.
‘We want individuals to concentrate on the indicators of recent slavery and report any considerations they’ve.’
MailOnline has contacted McDonald’s UK for remark.
