Fishing boss fined for breaching human trafficking court order
A fishing trawler boss linked to a series of modern slavery allegations has been fined £2,700 for breaching a people-trafficking tribunal order.
Thomas Nicholson, 63, is understood to be the first person in Scotland to obtain and breach a Trafficking and Exploitation Risk Order (TERO).
Nicholson, who is under investigation for smuggling, was ordered by Dumfries Sheriff Court to prevent him from moving ships without providing crew details.
In 2024, TN Trawlers, a company based in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, was the subject of an incident. BBC Scotland and Radio 4 investigation Allegations of mistreatment of foreign workers.
BBC Scotland’s Disclosure program Slavery at Sea has identified 35 people working on the dredge trawler fleet who are considered victims of modern slavery by the UK Home Office.
Nicholson pleaded guilty to breaching the order last month.
Dumfries sheriff Euan Cameron said his offending was at the “low end” of harm and fined him £2,700 with a £175 victim surcharge.
The sentencing came just three days after his son, Tom Jr., pleaded guilty to failing to provide adequate food and rest to five Ghanaian fishermen in 2017.
TN Trawlers are the subject of BBC investigation into allegations of mistreatment of foreign workers [BBC]
Nicholson was given a two-year TERO sentence in October 2022 while police investigated allegations of human trafficking and modern slavery.
This meant that Nicholson had to provide documentation and employee details of non-European crews to officials from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) before certain ships in his fleet could set sail.
This order also prevented him from having any direct or indirect relationship with any other boats operated by his company.
TEROs were introduced in 2015 as part of the Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act.
Police can apply for this order when authorities believe there may be a risk of trafficking or exploitation.
Unlike a Trafficking and Exploitation Order (TEPO), an individual does not need to have a current trafficking conviction before being served with a TERO.
Tom Nicholson Jr pleaded guilty at Hamilton Sheriff Court last week [BBC]
Fiscal depute David Orr said Nicholson, of Newbie, near Annan, was the focus of the Home Office’s Operation Epazote, an investigation into human trafficking in TN Trawlers.
The court heard that Nicholson breached the provisional version of TERO by failing to notify authorities that he had moved one of his ships, the Olivia Jean, from a port in the Netherlands to Buckie, Moray, in October 2022.
It also did not provide details of any non-European Economic Area (EEA) staff on board before departure.
Defense lawyer Paul Anderson said the attack was a “genuine mistake” and that there was no foreign crew on board.
He said: “This was converted from the port where the boat was serviced in the Netherlands. This was not a fishing trip.”
The lawyer said Nicholson was now retired and “no longer owns a boat and no longer employs fishing staff”.
Reporting restrictions
Nicholson made no comment as he left Dumfries Sheriff Court.
The BBC was unable to report his confession last month due to reporting restrictions on the subject. criminal case involving his son Tom Jr.
At Hamilton Sheriff Court last week, the 38-year-old pleaded guilty to failing to provide adequate food, rest or training for five workers from Ghana in 2017 when he was captain of the ship Sea Lady.
Fishermen said that they were made to work 24 hours a day on the dredger and were treated “like slaves”, while they also had difficulty finding enough food.
The court heard the men resorted to a “stealth route” of sleeping in shifts and eating animals caught on board to survive.
Augustus Mensah, who was interviewed for the BBC’s Slavery at Sea documentary in 2024, told the court that his distress ended with the blow to his head and he was taken to shore for treatment.
He and his compatriots were soon taken away by the police.
Another victim, Joshua Amissah, told the court Tom Jr. about the lack of hearing. He said he confronted him.
“He said his father told him that he had to treat every black person he worked with as a slave,” Amissah said.
Tom Jr will return to court for sentencing in July.
Augustus Mensah appears in BBC Scotland documentary Slavery at Sea [Gavin Hopkins]
TN Trawlers was at the center of a decade-long investigation into allegations of human trafficking.
The BBC’s Statement and Dossier on its 4 investigations included contributions from former employees from the Philippines, Ghana and India who claimed they were mistreated by the company.
In October 2024, another group of fishermen from Ghana were awarded compensation of £20,000 each by the UK government.
The crew was rescued from the dredge trawler Olivia Jean, also owned by TN Trawlers, in 2020.
TN Trawlers has denied allegations of modern slavery or human trafficking and said its workers were well treated and well paid.
