Her Justice: How two young women united to stand against their trafficker 

This Spring, donations* to Justice & Care will be doubled through our match-funding campaign – Her Future, which shines a light on the disproportionate impact of modern slavery on women and girls. Donate between April 16 and May 31 to double your impact and support survivors on their journey to freedom, justice and empowerment. 

Standing against your trafficker takes undeniable courage and all of us at Justice and Care are in awe of those who do this.  

Two of these people are Bella** and Amanda**, who together helped to take down an organised criminal group by giving evidence to police – likely saving countless other future victims from the grips of their exploiters. 

Bella, a young woman from Poland, had experienced horrendous sexual exploitation when she began being supported by Justice and Care in 2021. 

Bella began to support criminal investigations in Surrey, London and West Yorkshire and had built a strong relationship with her Navigator when she confided in them about her concerns for another Polish woman named Amanda. Amanda had been exploited alongside Bella in a brothel and Bella believed she was still trapped under their trafficker’s control.  

Amanda had first come to the UK to do sex work in the hope that she could send money home to help her mother, who had three other young children and was unable to work. But her trafficker had taken almost all of her money and become violent towards her. He forced her to take large quantities of drugs to exert his control, and she had become incredibly ill as a result. 

Tragically, this is not a unique situation – with an estimated 122,000 victims of modern slavery in the UK. Women and girls remain the most impacted by forced sexual exploitation, making up 88% of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism in 2022. 

Determined to help Amanda walk free like she had, Bella reached out to tell her about the support she had received since escaping slavery. The same could be done for her, she told her. 

One evening, our Navigator received an urgent call from Bella saying that Amanda had called her for help. All Amanda knew was that she was in North London and the telephone number of the brothel. The Navigator immediately alerted our partners at the Metropolitan Police and an urgent operation was launched that located Amanda. 

On the way to a safehouse, Amanada became extremely ill, leading the Navigator to take her to A&E instead. During the hospital visit, Amanda found out she was pregnant as a result of the abuse she had faced. 

The two women have since seen their trafficker jailed after Amanda joined Bella in bravely giving evidence to police. Thanks to their actions, he was sentenced to 12 years for rape and nine for modern slavery. Both the cases linked to the Metropolitan Police and West Yorkshire Police resulted in successful prosecutions and convictions.    

Bella has expressed how much it meant to be believed by her Navigator, saying: ‘You can have 99 people in the room and just one of them believe you, that is so important.’ 

Following the verdict, the women have determinedly built brighter futures for themselves. Today, Amanda is mother to a beautiful little girl who is the centre of her world. She and Bella have both returned to education.  

In the UK, we have supported 377 women like Amanda and Bella – and 693 survivors overall – to start to rebuild their lives through our flagship Victim Navigator programme. 

Justice and Care created the Navigator Programme after discovering that low engagement from survivors was a major reason as to why so few modern slavery prosecutions are successful in the UK. It operates on one main principle: in order to ensure traffickers are brought to justice, it is critical to prioritise survivor care. 

In the UK, estimates suggest that 44% of survivors without a Victim Navigator engage with the criminal justice process, compared to more than 90% of survivors with a Navigator. Navigator support also leads to better recovery; more than 80% of survivors supported by our Navigators last year demonstrated improved recovery and reintegration outcomes.  

*up to £235,000

**name changed to protect identity