Czech smuggling gang kept a migrant in an unheated garage without a roof and made victims cycle 12 miles at 4am to work at a bakery, court told

A smuggled migrant was kept in an unheated garage without a roof after being brought to the UK by a Czech smuggling gang, a court heard.

Zdenek Drevenak, 47, his partner Monika Daducova, 43, and associates Jiri Cernohous, 48 and Martin Slovjak, 46, allegedly stole the wages of 12 victims and kept them in ‘invisible handcuffs.’

The migrants, 11 Czechs and one Slovakian, were promised a better quality of life in the UK, Southwark Crown Court has heard.

But the money they earned in bakeries and car washes was paid into the accounts of the three male traffickers – Drevenak, Cernohous and Slovjak.

The traffickers selected unemployed, homeless or financially deprived individuals who were ‘desperate’ to come to the UK, it is said.

Most of the 12 men and women were made to work at Arnaouti Pitta Bread Bakery in Hoddesdon, Herts.

The alleged victims would often cycle 12 miles to get to the bakery from the property in Enfield, sometimes leaving as early as 4am and not returning until the evening.

Speaking through a Czech interpreter over a video-link, one of the alleged victims told the court Drevenak arranged for him to come to the UK to work for two years and said he would be earning £50 a week.

He said he was kept in a garage that did not have a roof for the first month before he was given a piece of canvas tarpaulin to shelter under.

‘It was raining inside. It was leaking through the roof in various places..’

The victim said there had been a gas heater in the garage for the first week, but this was taken away by Drevenak, after which there was no heating inside the building.

He said he was first put to work in a carwash – but was not paid anything.

He said: ‘I went to work in a car wash with Jiri [Cernohous] until they arranged for my working number.’

He was then moved to work at a bakery, where he lost part of a finger on his left hand while cleaning a machine.

The man said: ‘I was cleaning out the machine and was taking out the bread that was stuck in there and the machine took my finger.’

He denied suggestions from the defence that his hand injury was down to his alcohol consumption.

The witness said Monika Dadukova and then Drevenak took him to hospital for treatment, but he was back at work in the bakery in ‘less than a month.’

He also explained how he was denied wages: ‘If I earnt £300, I would get £15 plus tobacco. If I earned £400 or more, I would get £20 and tobacco.’

The man said he also faced physical abuse at the hands of the traffickers.

‘If I took his beer, I would get beaten for that,’ he said.

Jurors have heard smuggled migrants had their passports and identity documents taken away and locked in a safe when they arrived at the property in Durants Road, Enfield.

They were also forced to undertake household chores when they returned home from working.

One of the victims was forced to work as a prostitute, it was said.

Drevenak, Daducova, Slovjak, and Cernohous, all of Durants Road, Enfield, deny two counts of conspiracy to hold a person in servitude, and 12 of trafficking persons for exploitation.

Drevenak, Daducova, and Cernohous, deny three counts of trafficking persons for exploitation.

Drevenak denies four further counts of trafficking persons for exploitation.

Cernohous denies one further count of trafficking persons for exploitation.

The charges date between January 2014 and October 2019.

The trial continues.