"Crackdown on human traffickers 'failing' as number of convictions fell to just 42 last year despite the number of victims going up"

Dame Sara Thornton, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, spoke to the Mail on Sunday about concerns over low rates of prosecutions and convictions for modern slavery crimes.

"Crackdown on human traffickers 'failing' as number of convictions fell to just 42 last year despite the number of victims going up" (Mail on Sunday, 15/12/19)

Britain’s anti-slavery commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton, last night revealed she has written to the 43 police chief constables in England and Wales to voice her concern over prosecution and conviction rates and to ‘seek assurances that modern slavery and human trafficking is treated as serious organised crime’.

‘In 2018, almost 7,000 victims of modern slavery were identified,’ she said. ‘Although we have seen a slow rise in prosecution and conviction rates, reflecting a growing understanding among police and the criminal justice system, this does not match the scale of the issue.

‘I am concerned the number of offenders referred to the CPS for charging advice is beginning to fall and that this will lead to fewer prosecutions.’

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