West Midlands Police has charged a couple with slavery offences amid claims they lured a childhood friend to the UK from Poland and made him work in a recycling plant.
It is alleged 32-year-old man Tadeusz Ondycz and 26-year-old woman Marta Dombrowska, from Willes Road in Winson Green, arranged the man’s travel to Birmingham and secured work at a recycling plant in the Black Country.
However, the pair are accused of stealing the 47-year-old’s wages and documentation and controlling his bank account.
They have both been charged with human trafficking and holding a person in slavery or servitude – under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 – plus one count of fraud by false representation.
Ondycz and Dombrowska appeared at Birmingham Magistrates Court on Friday (Oct 13).
They were remanded into prison and are next scheduled to appear at the city’s crown court on November 10.
