Jailed Worthing landlady to pay modern slavery victim almost £200,000

The 62-year-old victim was kept in domestic servitude in the landlady's home for seven years

Author: Vanessa BellringerPublished 25th Oct 2023

A jailed Worthing landlady has been ordered to pay almost £200,000 pounds to a vulnerable woman she kept in domestic servitude in her home for seven years.

Farzana Kausar forced the 62-year-old to cook and clean for her, look after her children, controlled her finances and made benefit claims in her name.

The 59-year-old, of Selden Road, was sentenced to more than six-and-a-half years in prison last December, having been convicted of keeping a person in slavery and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

In addition to the money she has been ordered to pay her victim, £7,000 was also confiscated for National Insurance payments.

The court found Kausar has sufficient funds to pay the confiscation order in full, and has therefore been given three months to do so or risk facing an extension to her prison sentence.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Josh Bellamy said: “Farzana Kausar denied her victim the most basic of human needs during 16 years of control and manipulation.

“She amassed her own personal wealth while siphoning off her victim’s benefits, using her bank accounts to pay for bills and forcing her to work in her home without payment.”

A campaign of physical and psychological abuse

Kausar gradually trapped her victim over a period of 16 years, moving her between properties in Sussex and London.

She would accompany the woman to all medical appointments, insisting she was her carer and had her best wishes at heart.

Police were alerted in May 2019 when a nanny employed to support Kausar’s family noticed the victim being treated differently, with Adult Social Services telling the force “something didn’t feel quite right” about the situation.

On a visit to the address, officers found all the victim’s belongings in black bin bags, while she was forced to sleep in the children’s bedroom.

Her passport and bank cards were locked in a room along with financial documents made out in her name related to addresses which she had no connection to.

When Kausar was bailed, the victim disappeared before the officer in charged of the case received a letter from the victim, retracting her allegations.

It was later revealed the letter had been written under duress, and Kausar was further arrested for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

DC Bellamy said: “Kausar is rightly behind bars and, while her vulnerable victim lost years of her freedom and must deal with the impact for the rest of her life, I hope these financial reparations go some way to compensating her for the treatment she has suffered.

“This confiscation order should also send a clear message to offenders that we will do everything in our power to hold you fully accountable for your crimes and will use all tools at our disposal to get justice for victims.

“If you believe you, or someone you know, may be a victim of modern slavery, please contact police online or via 101, or dial 999 in an emergency.”

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