Ana Lucia Martins, 50, "sold her victims a dream" by lying to them and saying they could earn £400 per week working for her business
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A Brazilian people smuggler who used her cleaning company to traffic people into the UK before making them work 12-hour shifts with no food or water has been jailed.
Ana Lucia Martins, 50, "sold her victims a dream" by telling them they could earn £400 per week working for her business in Luton.
But instead, she made them work 12-hour shifts without breaks for food or water.
The criminal avoided detection by moving the workers to different holiday lets every 15 days, telling them their only payment was their accommodation.
But her crimes were eventually uncovered following a four-year investigation by immigration officers.
Appearing at the Old Bailey, she was sentenced to three years behind bars after pleading guilty to assisting unlawful immigration to a member state on the second day of her trial before Recorder Judge Lucas in December.
One of her victims told the court: "A female has told me to come to the UK to work and has promised to get me a visa to work, but this has not happened.
"I have been paid very little, and the female has taken control of my life."
In the rare cases where the migrants were paid, Martins would track what they were spending, how much and when.
When her victims asked to return to Brazil, she threatened them, and in one case said she knew where their family lived.
Martins will now be automatically referred for deportation consideration, the Home Office said.
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, said: "This case is a prime example of the lies people smugglers sell to illegal migrants.
"Martins sold her victims a dream of a prosperous life in the UK – instead they suffered abuse and exploitation.
"That’s why we’re restoring order and control to our border, cracking down on the incentives that draw illegal migrants to the UK and ramping up enforcement action to bring offenders like Martins to justice."
