When they brought the child from Nigeria in 1989, they had promised to pay him and make sure he received an education. Instead, he was forced to work up to 17 hours a day cooking, cleaning and caring for the couple’s children. He was forced to eat alone for all those years, and often slept on hallway floors.
The pair had changed the man’s name and listed him as their son when they illegally brought him into Britain.
He had very limited contact with the outside world, and the couple held his passport so that he had no identification. Prosecution explained that he feared if he attempted to escape he would be arrested and deported.
"He believed this and felt trapped and completely dependent on the Edets," Prosecutor Damaris Lakin said in a statement. "Emanuel and Antan Edet have cruelly robbed this victim of 24 years of his life. They have treated him with complete contempt."
"This was a shocking case of modern day slavery," he continued.
