A CHESHIRE couple have been jailed for trafficking people into the UK and using them as slaves.

Robertas Repsas and Rita Jablonskaite made one of their two victims sleep in a tiny cupboard under the stairs.

The 50-year-old man, who spoke very little English, lived with the couple for nine months after being trafficked from their native Lithuania, originally doing housework, gardening and running errands for them before working for Jablonskaites cleaning company and later for a Warrington-based recruitment agency.

He was never given access to his wage slips or the money he earned.

Repsas and Jablonskaite had total control over the man and his wages, and they even applied for loans in his name.

Sleeping in highly cramped conditions with no ventilation or a window and having no access to money despite earning an average wage of about 400 a week, the victim flagged up his plight to a friend after finding a mobile phone while working for a recycling company in St Helens.

He then called the Lithuanian embassy, who in turn contacted Cheshire Police.

An investigation was launched and officers visited the victim while he was doing a shift at the recycling company before speaking to him, via an interpreter, at Widnes Police Station.

After finding that he had an unkempt appearance, did not own his own clothing and was wearing tracksuit bottoms that did not fit him, the officers safeguarded the victim before raiding the house in Westland Drive, Warrington, on Tuesday, March 13, 2018.

Repsas, 31, and Jablonskaite, 34, were arrested at the address and questioned in custody.

They were subsequently released under investigation pending further enquiries.

Just months later officers had cause to go to the couples home and while there they discovered and safeguarded a second victim.

The 51-year-old woman, who could not speak English, had also been trafficked from Lithuania.

She had been living on the couples sofa for several weeks as their housekeeper and live-in nanny.

She also did work for Jablonskaites company, cleaning peoples flats.

Despite being promised a weekly wage, the victim received no money from the couple.

The couple also reneged on their promise to keep her mobile phone topped up so that she could keep in contact with her family in Lithuania.

She had come to England to live with the couple after being told that she would be able to work and raise money for her family.

Both victims were given access to food while living with the couple, though the woman told officers that she only ate at lunch.

But the couple took their identification off them when they first arrived in Warrington via a private minibus and a ferry from Calais to Dover and never gave them a key to their home.

The court heard that both victims felt as though they could not leave the couples home without permission.

In victim impact statements read out in court, the man, who lost nearly 20 kilograms in weight while living with the couple, said: I lived there under constant stress and ongoing depression, anxiety and constantly thinking what I should do next what actions I should take. These thoughts used to drive me crazy.

I was full of anxiety and yet I could not share my thoughts with anybody as I was alone and was completely isolated from other people.

The woman said: While I was living in Ritas house I felt very bad. I was treated as worthless and was very insulted.

I felt particularly bad when I had nothing to eat after I cooked for the family there. I remember how many times I cried because of hunger and the insults.

I was always in a very bad mood and always sad.

Once Cheshire Police had concluded its investigation into Repsas and Jablonskaites offending, they were both charged with holding a person in slavery or servitude and requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour.

Repsas was also charged with human trafficking.

Jablonskaite was charged with three counts of that offence.

Having originally decided to plead not guilty to all charges, the pair admitted the human trafficking offences part way through a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

The prosecution accepted the pleas on the agreement that the other charges would be taken into account upon sentencing, which took place on Tuesday.

Repsas was jailed for one year and three months and Jablonskaite was handed a prison sentence of two years and four months.

A seven-year slavery and trafficking prevention order was also imposed on the pair.

Detective Inspector Julie Jackson, of the Hidden Harm Team based at Warrington Police Station, said: The two vulnerable victims in this case were sold on the idea of coming to England to work and earn money whilst living with a family from their homeland.

But they ended up being controlled and exploited by Robertas Repsas and Rita Jablonskaite, working excessive hours and not having any money to show for it."

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Couple jailed for trafficking people into the UK and using them as slaves - The Chester Standard