A MUM-of-ten known as âThe Witchâ has been jailed for keeping a vulnerable woman as a slave for 25 years.
The victim â known only as K â was kept in a squalid âprison cellâ where she was subjected to regular beatings by Amanda Wixon.
Wixon, 56, would also squirt washing up liquid down her throat, splashed bleach on her face and repeatedly shaved Kâs head against her will.
On one occasion, the victim â who branded Wixon âThe Witchâ â was beaten so hard with a broom handle that her teeth were knocked out.
For 25 years from the age of 14 she remained trapped in a tiny room at the home in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, with plaster hanging off the mouldy walls.
She was starved to âskin and boneâ by Wixon, who fed her just leftover scraps of food once a day.
The tormenter also raked in £100,000 in benefits that were meant for K, who has a learning disability, while she worked as a house slave for free.
The nightmare ordeal only came to an end in 2021 when the victim called for help from a secret phone.
When officers rescued her, K told them: âI donât want to be here. I donât feel safe. Mandy hits me all the time. I donât like it.
âI havenât washed for years. She doesnât let me.â
Wixon has now been jailed for 13 years after she was convicted of false imprisonment, two counts of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, and four of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Passing sentence Judge Ian Lawrie KC said Wixon was in âpermanent denialâ about the impact of her offending on the woman.
âThe gravity of your offending is so serious that I am imposing a significant period of custody,â the judge said.
âYou are to be punished for a series of offences spanning 20 years. You cruelly and persistently held captive this woman. This false imprisonment ran from her later teens until early 40s.
âThe enduring persistent trauma of that slavery remains. This offending was not isolated and was persistent over many years.â
Gloucester Crown Court heard the girl was 14 when Wixon took her captive in 1996 in a case described as âDickensianâ by the judge.
Her parents, described in court as members of her âextended familyâ, were having âdifficultiesâ.
But instead of showing her love, K was beaten and kicked regularly by Wixon and on several occasions thrown down the stairs.
During one harrowing attack, Wixon pushed her head into the toilet as she pulled the chain.
K rarely left the house and the windows were covered with black bin liners to prevent her from looking outside.
She was forced to clean up after Wixon and her children and only ate leftovers once a day.
Social services were involved with the family in the late 1990s but there were no records of any contact since.
K also had no medical or dental records and had not seen a doctor in two decades.
Sam Jones, prosecuting, said: âThe fact remains that nothing was done by social services.
âThe lack of records from the hospital, the doctor and the dentist, or any involvement with social services for 20 years provides further support of her never being allowed to leave the house.
âBy the late 1990s it appears the woman disappeared into a black hole. Not a single meeting that left a record or a single sighting of her outside the house.â
Following Kâs rescue, police bodycam showed the filthy room she was forced to sleep in for 25 years.
Plaster could be seen chipping from the mould-riddled walls with crumped sheets scattered on the dirty bed.
One officer uncovered a tiny note from under a yellow pillow with several phone numbers scribbled on it.
K was found bruised, with no teeth, unwashed and terrified by the police officers.
One officer noted at the time: âShe smelt heavily of body odour, even from two metres away.
âShe was malnourished, timid and frightened.â
Wixonâs own children were unvaccinated, did not attend school and had rotting teeth and headlice.
The court heard K has since put on weight and attends lessons in maths and English at a local college.
She also reportedly plays football regularly and lives with a foster family.
Rachael Scott of the Crown Prosecution Service said: âThe victim in this case was subjected to decades of torment, exploitation and control. She was denied her freedom, made to live in appalling physical and emotional conditions, and forced to act at the whim of the woman who imprisoned her.
âOver the years of captivity, which she was only able to track by the passing of each Christmas, she was left to live off the crumbs that Wixon provided, while suffering unimaginable abuse and experiencing no acts of kindness at all.
âDespite all of this, the progress she has made since finding freedom is remarkable and a true testament to her strength.
âOur thoughts remain with her, and I hope that todayâs sentence brings her some comfort as she continues to rebuild her life.â
