A 40-year-old man who exploited Lithuanian workers in the chicken processing sector has been sentenced to seven years in prison - the first time ever illegal gangmaster activity has resulted in a custodial sentence.
Audrius Morkunas was found guilty of a string of offences earlier this year, including possessing a Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) licence belonging to another person, conspiring to launder money, possessing an offensive weapon and assault. He denied the weapons and assault charges but admitted the others.
He was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court yesterday (9 December), receiving seven years for acting as a gangmaster without a licence, seven years for money laundering and 18 months for assault. The sentences will run concurrently.
Morkunas, himself a Lithuanian national, had built up an organised crime group that placed a large number of Lithuanian people working in the agriculture and chicken processing sectors into “substandard accommodation”, demanding £50 in rent per person per week, £5 per day for transport and a £400 fee for finding them work, the GLA said.
Morkunas controlled the workers’ bank accounts and confiscated their passports, driving licence and other documents, and created a climate of fear through violence and aggression, including assaulting one worker with an iron bar.
“This man exploited vulnerable workers to despicable levels over a prolonged period,” said GLA CEO Paul Broadbent. “That exploitation was deliberate and based on fear, intimidation and greed.”
It was hoped yesterday’s sentences marked the start of a tougher approach to gangmasters by the courts, he added, to send out “a clear warning to illegal gangmasters who flout the law that they will be relentlessly pursued, prosecuted and spend significant periods of time in jail”.
Morkunas operated without the necessary gangmasters licence between January 2009 and September 2012. The investigation into his activities began in February 2011 and he was arrested in June 2012.
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