Slavery in the UK

Police have found two dozen men they believe were being kept as slaves on a caravan site in Bedfordshire. The victims are a range of ages and are mostly English and eastern European.

The raid followed a lengthy investigation by the Beds and Herts Major Crime Unit after reports people were being held against their will in poor conditions and forced to work for no pay.

Det Chief Insp Sean O'Neil from the unit said: "The men we found at the site were in a poor state of physical health and the conditions they were living in were shockingly filthy and cramped. We believe that some of them had been living and working there in a state of virtual slavery, some for just a few weeks and other for up to 15 years..."

Four men and one woman have been arrested under the Slavery and Servitude Act 2010.