Maros Tankos and Joanna Gomulska, both 46, held the victims as “detainees” in poverty at their home in Bristol and subjected them to beatings and death threats, according to a court. The victims were forced to work unpaid at the Tancos car wash and then do paid work at night, such as catching chickens, packing milk and picking up parcels, with the couple spending their wages on used cars and gambling. One was forced to work in the car wash with a broken arm, while another fled after becoming pregnant and giving birth to a malnourished baby. Some of the victims of trafficking had grown up in orphanages in Slovakia and were promised a better life by the couple. Tankos was sentenced to 16 years in prison and Gomulska was sentenced to nine years in prison in a Bristol court on Wednesday after being convicted of modern-day slavery offenses in April. Mark Morrison, senior investigator at the National Crime Agency (NCA), said living conditions included dirty mattresses on the floor and “disgusting, dirty carpets, blankets and bedding.” He told Sky News: “There are multiple reports of violence against them with beatings. “The mental anguish that these men and women have gone through is absolutely disgusting.” Morrison added that Tankos had links to orphanages in his home country of Slovakia and had a “ready stock” of vulnerable victims. The trafficked persons between 2010 and 2017 were in their teens and early 30s and were mostly men from Slovakia and Hungary who could not speak English. The victims were falsely told that they would keep half of their salary each month, while the rest would go for food and living expenses. During the three-month trial, the court heard that Tancos and Gomulska had confiscated the victims’ identity documents, telephone numbers and bank cards and opened their bank accounts with them in addition to applying for loans and credit cards in their name. The NCA said nearly .000 300,000 had been transferred from the victims’ accounts. Tankos also failed to pay his victims 9 923,835 in the car wash, the amount they would have earned if they had received the minimum wage for the eight-year period of the offense, the agency added. The NCA was first notified by authorities in Slovakia in 2017 that one of its citizens had “escaped from servitude” from an address in Bristol. This led to an investigation and Tancos and Gomulska were arrested in July of that year. A total of 42 victims were interviewed by specialist officers and 29 provided evidence of abuse in court. Senior Special Prosecutor Ruona Iguyovwe said: “This is a really painful exploitation case that spans almost a decade, where people have been trafficked and subjected to a life of misery to fill the pockets of two unscrupulous people. “Referring to the home as a ‘gateway to hell’, a victim’s account shows how trapped they felt, unable to seek help without ID, locked in the house and threatened.”
