Retired doctor turned woman into 'slave'

A retired doctor has become the first person to be convicted of modern-day slavery - trafficking a person for the purpose of domestic servitude.

Saeeda Khan, 68, made Mwanahanisi Mruke sleep on the kitchen floor and fed her two slices of bread a day at her bungalow in Harrow.

Mrs Mruke was not allowed out on her own, had her telephone calls monitored and was prevented from flying back to Tanzania to attend her parents' funerals and her daughter's wedding. She did all the housework and was a full-time carer for Khan's two disabled adult children.

Mrs Mruke, 47, was hired in Tanzania in 2006 after she was made redundant from the hospital in Dar es Salaam which had been run Khan and her late husband. She was promised £10 a month as a living allowance and £50 a month for her daughter, but Khan stopped paying her after two years.

Khan was convicted of trafficking a person into the UK for exploitation at Southwark crown court yesterday. She was given a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £25,000 in compensation to Mrs Mruke and £15,000 in costs.

After the case, police said they are investigating 12 other suspected cases of domestic servitude in London.