A VIETNAMESE man trafficked into Britain to work was unlawfully detained by the Home Office for 70 days, the High Court ruled today.

Thirty-four-year-old “CP” arrived in Britain on an unknown date when he was first stopped by West Mercia Police with three others in March 2016. Officers identified “general indicators of modern slavery” and made a referral to the National Crime Agency’s national referral mechanism (NRM), a framework for identifying and ensuring support for victims of trafficking.

He told police that he had paid about £15,000 to fly from Vietnam to France and later told Home Office officials that he had been smuggled into Britain in a lorry and was “still indebted to the agents.”