Mother Jailed For 13 Years After Keeping Vulnerable Woman Captive For 25 Years In Gloucestershire

Mother jailed for 13 years after keeping vulnerable woman captive for 25 years in Gloucestershire A 56‑year‑old mother has been sentenced to 13 years in prison after she was convicted of imprisoning, abusing and exploiting a vulnerable woman for more than two and a half decades.

At Gloucester Crown Court on Thursday, Amanda (Mandy) Wixon was sentenced after a jury found her guilty of false imprisonment, forced or compulsory labour and multiple counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm for crimes carried out over a quarter of a century. The court heard Wixon took in a teenage girl when she was 16 in 1995 and kept her in squalid and abusive conditions until 2021, when police intervened following a report from one of Wixon’s sons. Prosecutors described how Wixon forced the woman identified in court reports only as “K to work as a domestic servant without pay, routinely assaulting her and restricting her freedom. The victim, now in her 40s, was kept in what officers described as a room resembling a “prison cell”, with mouldy walls and filthy bedding. She was regularly beaten, including being struck with a broom handle that knocked out her teeth, deprived of food and healthcare, and forced into daily manual labour around the home. Abusive treatment included bleach and washing‑up liquid being applied against her will, repeated head shaving, and denial of basic hygiene, with the victim forced to bathe secretly at night Officers discovered the victim in March 2021, responding to a tip‑off from a family member. At the time of her liberation, she was malnourished, frail and traumatised after enduring years of control and neglect. In a victim impact statement read during sentencing, the woman said she had lived “in fear, control and abuse” for most of her life and continues to carry the trauma of those years, even as she starts to rebuild her life with the support of a foster family. The case has drawn sharp attention to how the abuse went undetected for decades despite glimpses from neighbours and earlier involvement by social services. Critics have called for a thorough review of how such exploitation can go unnoticed in private homes. Judge Ian Lawrie KC acknowledged the “Dickensian” nature of the crimes, noting the remarkable period over which the woman’s autonomy was taken. Police described the case as deeply disturbing, emphasising that no prison sentence can fully reflect the suffering inflicted or reclaim the decades taken from the victim’s life.