Man spared jail for modern slavery offence in Oldham

On Monday, Nelu Nechita attended Bolton Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to modern slavery offences in relation to an incident in November 2018, when he was living in Oldham.

The court heard that the victim was contacted by his brother telling him there was work going in England at a chicken factory, and the defendant would fly him out with “four or five” other people from Romania to carry out the work.

David Lister, prosecuting, said: “That didn’t materialise.

“He was told he would be paid £500 for 30 days work, he was told that some of the wages were being withheld for utilities and rent. If he had known how poor the pay was going to be he wouldn’t have made the trip.

“His wages were paid onto a card that was looked after by the defendant, so his wages were controlled by the defendant.”

Mr Lister explained that the money was being paid onto a OnePay card – which is effectively a debit card not connected to a bank account, and that he believed “the offence was planned and premeditated” adding that Nechita had “every intention to exploit him”.

He continued: “It came to a head when the complainant who was working, after 28 days he was asking the defendant for overtime work, but he was told he would only get £280.

“So, he left the house and called the police.”

Responding, Judge Anthony Cross QC added: “It seems unusual of these cases that the victim wasn’t afraid - he can’t be the most fearful of gangmasters for the complainant to be able to get away so easily and go to the police.”

Nelu Nechita was sentenced at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Google Street View)

Defending Raj Chopra told the court that Nechita has no previous convictions and has not reoffended in the four and a half years since.

He explained that Nechita, who has got a five-year-old daughter and whose wife has fallen ill, is the only person in his “very close-knit family” that works and that he is preparing to be a grandfather.

Mr Chopra said: “He accepts that he has done wrong, but he had no knowledge that he was committing an offence.”

According to his barrister, Nechita, 52, who now lives in London, said: “I don’t know what happened, I tried to help someone, I didn’t realise I was committing an offence.”

The court heard how the victim was due £1,846 for the work he undertook in the chicken factory, but received £1,446 short of that.

Delivering his verdict, Judge Cross said to Nechita: “You will be punished by the way of doing 200 hours of unpaid work.”

He received an 18 month suspended prison sentence, 200 hours of unpaid work with 20 sessions of face-to-face rehabilitation classes.

Nechita was also ordered to not keep anybody else’s passport, or debit/credit cards, apart from his family for the next five years.