Woman who kept teenage girl as ‘house slave’ for 25 years and beat her with a broom handle jailed
A woman who forced a young girl to work as a “house slave” and live in squalor despite being abused for 25 years has been jailed.
The victim, now in her mid-40s, moved into the overcrowded home of Amanda Wixon, now 56, and her 10 children in 1995, where she remained until her rescue in 2021.
In what was described as a “Dickens-style” tale of abuse, the woman was regularly beaten, hit with a broom handle and had her teeth knocked out. She had dishwashing liquid squirted down her throat, bleach splashed on her face, and had her head shaved multiple times against her will.
The woman, whose identity was not disclosed, said: “For 25 years I lived under fear, control and harassment. I was treated as if my life, my freedom and my voice did not matter.
“Even though my abuser has now been found guilty, the trauma and nightmares are still something I carry with me every day.
The court heard that food was restricted by Wixon and that Wixon lived on scraps, unable to leave the house and having to bathe secretly at night.
The family home in the Priors Park area of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, was overcrowded and in a state of disrepair; There was mold on the walls, the plaster was sagging, and there was trash in the backyard.
Wixon was found guilty of false imprisonment, two charges of compelling a person to perform forced or compulsory labor, and four counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and is now sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Sentencing, Judge Ian Lawrie KC said Wixon was “permanently in denial” about the impact of his crime on the woman.
“You will be sentenced for a series of crimes spanning 20 years,” the judge said. “You brutally and persistently held this woman captive. This false arrest lasted from her late teens until her early 40s.
“The enduring trauma of slavery remains. This crime was not isolated and has persisted for many years.”
Prosecutor Sam Jones told the jury: “He was kept locked up and prevented from leaving the address, was repeatedly assaulted and beaten and forced to work under threats of violence.
“He had been prevented from eating and washing for years.”
The woman, who has learning disabilities, went to stay in Wixon for a weekend after leaving her own “dysfunctional family”, Gloucester Crown Court heard.
Police went to the home in March 2021 after a tip about the woman from one of Wixon’s sons; Officers described the woman’s bedroom as looking like a “prison cell”, while other bedrooms were untidy and dirty.
He told police: “I don’t want to be here. I don’t feel safe. Mandy keeps hitting me. I don’t like it. I haven’t washed for years. She won’t let me.”
The court heard social services became involved with the family in the late 1990s but there was no record of any contact since then.
The woman had no medical or dental records and had not seen a doctor in two decades.
“The lack of records of the hospital, doctor and dentist or any contact with social services for 20 years supports the fact that she was never allowed to leave the house,” Mr Jones said.
“By the late 1990s, it appeared that the woman had disappeared into a black hole. There was no record of her being seen outside the house, not even in a single conversation.”
Like many people in the household, including Wixon, the woman had lost most of her teeth due to poor dental hygiene.
His Body Mass Index was “very close” to being underweight when he was discovered by police.
She also had scars on her lips and face and large calluses on her feet and ankles from constantly cleaning the floor on her hands and knees.
One neighbor described the woman as “looking like something out of a concentration camp.” Another saw him looking “skin and bones” with his head shaved and described seeing him being hit with a broom.
Since her rescue, the woman has been living with a foster family, attending university and going on holidays abroad, but has nightmares about her ordeal and a constant urge to clean.
Wixon denied all the accusations and accused his estranged son, Clint, of propositioning the woman.
Edward Hollingsworth, defending, described the prosecution as “a tale of fantasy and lies” and suggested there was “childish fantasy” in the woman’s allegations.
“Amanda Wixon’s life was much more complex and nuanced,” he said. “Their other children weren’t vaccinated, weren’t going to school, their teeth were rotting and they had lice in their hair.”
He said they all lived in terrible conditions and that the other children’s bedrooms were equally poor.
When asked as he left court what he should have told his victim, Wixon replied: “Not really.”
When asked if he had any regrets, he said: “No, I never did.”
When he stopped to light a cigarette, reporters asked if he was a “monster” and he replied: “Tell me what you think. Why should I be upset about something I claim I never did?”
Told that he could be sentenced to 10 years in prison, Wixon replied: “I know that. Do you think I’m stupid? Do you think I don’t know that?”
Detective Sergeant Alex Pockett, of Gloucestershire Police, said the victim had been subjected to “terrible treatment” by Wixon.
“He was treated really badly while he was at the address,” he said. “I have not come across a case like this and it is clear that it has a huge impact on the victim.”
Det Sgt Pockett said that from the late 1990s Wixon had the woman’s benefits deposited into his own bank account.
“The benefits records we were able to obtain do not extend beyond 2016, but from 2016 to 2021 Ms Wixon received over £33,000 in victim benefits,” he said.
“I imagine from the late 1990s to 2016 that was a significant amount of money.”
