Modern Slavery Act Bites!
Further to our earlier post on the issue we very recently represented a young girl aged seventeen of precious good character charged with an adult co-defendant with possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply. The girl was found in a car with the adult, there was cash in the car and Crack and Heroin found on her person.
Until May last of last year the girl had a fairly normal life, however, she was the victim of a rape and she began to leave home for long periods often going missing. However in July last year, after being picked up in another county and in fact various counties, her case was referred to the National Crime Agency under the National Referral Mechanism - which is run by the Home Office and their remit is to deal with modern slavery
Our client was given a positive decision namely that she was a victim of gang trafficking and this allowed the Crown to do two things: 1) withdraw the proceedings against our client and 2)bring trafficking charges against the adult co-defendant.
A positive example of the NRM working.
Solicitor: Nicola Hall