Jail for woman who treated staff like slaves at restaurant

Robert Sutcliffe

A HUMAN trafficker who treated staff like slaves at a well-known Yorkshire restaurant was jailed for three years yesterday.

Parveen Khan was 55 years old when she was convicted earlier this year of people trafficking in one of the first cases of its type.

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Two of her sons, Raja, 33, and Shahnawaz Khan, 30, were also found guilty by a jury in March of conspiracy to traffic foreign workers to their family-owned Rajput restaurant in Cheltenham Parade, Harrogate. They were jailed for three years.

Sentencing of Mrs Khan had been adjourned while she battled to overcome serious mental health problems.

Leeds Crown Court heard that nine men were recruited from India, Pakistan and the Middle East with promises of good wages and conditions.

But once in Yorkshire, they had their passports and other documents seized and were forced to work long hours often seven days a week for little or no pay.

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Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said over a four-year period from December 2004 to November 2008, the family had recruited and brought the nine men to Britain.

He said: “They were not brought into work illegally. Work permits were sought.

“Nine men from disadvantaged backgrounds who were keen to provide a good standard of living for their families back home.

“They spoke little or no English, their passports were taken from them, they were not prisoners in the sense that they were locked away but they were however effectively trapped being unable to work elsewhere or to return home.

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“Once here each of them was subjected to verbal abuse and their lives were effectively controlled.

“Other members of staff were asked to report back about their behaviour.

“Each of the defendants played a different role. Each knew exactly what was happening. The motive was greed and commercial gain at the expense of others.

“There has been no expression of remorse for the brutality to which these men were subjected.”

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The judge said it had been a “very troubling and difficult case” because of the defendant’s medical condition which he said had been diagnosed as a severe depressive disorder.

But he said: “In my judgment having observed her during the course of a long trial, I am satisfied that a significant part of her behaviour is manipulative, histrionic and exaggerated.”

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