Four Nigerian women who claimed they were treated as slaves won damages in Britain's High Court, where a judge ruled on Friday that the police's failure to investigate the complaints breached human rights law.
The women, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, alleged that they were illegally trafficked from Nigeria to the U.K. when they were between the ages of 11 and 15. Now in their 20s, they claimed they were forced to work 18-hour days for no pay in British
households and were subjected to emotional and physical abuse in the London area between 1997 and 2006.
Justice Wyn Williams ordered the Metropolitan Police to pay each woman 5,000 pounds ($8,100), saying in a written judgment that the police's failure to carry out an effective probe in 2007 breached European human rights law.
At a March court hearing, police denied that any officer had breached the women's human rights by failing to investigate their complaints.
The women were "ready, willing and able to participate in an investigation," Williams said, rejecting claims by police that the victims failed to cooperate.
A spokesman for the women's' lawyers noted Friday that the Metropolitan Police has not apologized for failing to investigate the abuses and argued — unsuccessfully — that it did not have a legal duty to investigate "credible allegations of servitude unless those allegations were reported whilst the servitude was ongoing."
"The (police) commissioner should not require a court judgment to appreciate the importance of investigating child slavery," said Tony Murphy, one of the solicitors. "His decision to fight this case sends a dangerous message to officers that combating human trafficking is not a priority for the Met."
The Metropolitan Police said it will carefully consider the judgment and take any appropriate action.
"It is, of course, a matter of deep regret that the claimants did not receive the levels of service which they expected," the statement said.
