Legal News
Three jailed for domestic abuse of woman kept as slave (8 January 2016)
Date: 08/01/2016
Nottingham Crown Court has sentenced a man to prison, after he repeatedly assaulted a woman with learning difficulties for more than two years.
Andrew Pepper, 26, appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday (04/01/16), after pleading guilty to two counts of actual bodily harm (ABH) and five counts of common assault on 9 December
He was sentenced to 27 months in jail for each of two counts of ABH, to run concurrently – and was given four months in jail for the five common assaults, to run concurrently.
Pepper – formerly of Amesbury Circus in Nottingham – took part in cruelty against the woman, who was being kept as a slave by Pepper’s friends, Gavin Pascoe and Denise Jepson, at a house in Aspley.
Vicki Jepson, 29, was sentenced on 11 December 2015 to two-and-a-half years in prison, after pleading guilty on 29 June to forced labour, theft and committing actual bodily harm on at least five occasions.
Ms Jepson’s partner, Gavin Pascoe, 37, was also sentenced on 11 December 2015 to four years in prison, after pleading guilty to forced labour, one count of grievous bodily harm and committing ABH on at least 10 occasions.
The court heard that the victim was taken to an address in Rosslyn Drive in Nottingham in August 2014 by someone she met online.
She was kept there for five months and suffered violent attacks, as well as being made to sleep on the floor or in a duck pen.
Her three attackers used threats of violence against her and her family in order to enslave her, the court was told.
The woman also suffered a broken wrist and ribs – and a medical examination found scarring on her back, thighs and arms.
The woman escaped when someone visited the house and told her to get out. She ran to a neighbour’s house and the police were called, leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.
Duncan Lewis Domestic Violence Solicitors
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There are Duncan Lewis offices nationwide and our domestic violence solicitors can advise on domestic abuse between spouses, same sex partners, domestic abuse against the elderly, child-parent domestic abuse –
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Duncan Lewis advises on domestic violence under UK law and Islamic law and can also advise on abuse within domestic employment or modern slavery.
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