Lydia Mugambe: United Nations judge ‘tricked’ African woman coming to Britain into being her slave

A United Nations judge ‘tricked’ an African woman into coming to Britain to work as her unpaid slave while she studied for a law PhD at Oxford University, a court heard.

Lydia Mugambe, who also sits in the Ugandan High Court, conspired to bring the woman to the UK to look after her children for free, prosecutors claimed.

She then withheld her passport so the alleged victim would have to ‘beg’ for her identity documents if she needed them, the jury was told.

The woman, who cannot be named, came to Britain in July 2022 after Mugambe made a ‘very dishonest’ trade-off with Ugandan deputy high commissioner John Leonard Mugerwa to sponsor her student visa, Oxford Crown Court heard.

Mugambe, 49, offered to speak to a judge presiding over a case in which Mugerwa was named in exchange for him sponsoring the woman as a domestic worker in his household, prosecutor Caroline Haughey KC said.

But, Ms Haughey added, ‘it was never anyone’s intention that [the woman] would work at the High Commission or for Mr Mugerwa.

‘Lydia Mugambe and John Leonard Mugerwa conspired together to lie and provide false particulars on a visa sponsorship form about where [the] victim would be working.’ The jury was told that the woman had moved into Mugambe’s home in Kidlington, near Oxford, and had begun sleeping in a bunk bed in her daughter’s room.

Mugerwa was not charged with an offence because he left the country, but when police arrested Mugambe she wrongly claimed she had diplomatic immunity, the court heard.

She is also accused of trying to intimidate her victim into dropping the case by trying to arrange for the woman’s pastor to intervene.

Ms Haughey told the court: ‘Ms Mugambe created a situation where [her alleged victim] was deprived of the opportunity to support herself by preventing her from being able to hold down steady employment or to earn any money unless it was done at the whim or convenience of Ms Mugambe.

‘This was her intention from the outset when arranging for [the woman] to come to the UK: Obtaining someone to make her life easier and at the least possible cost to herself.’

Thames Valley Police received a report that a woman was being held as a slave in February 2023.

They received another call later that day from a member of the public who became concerned about the woman’s welfare after seeing her in a TK Maxx store in Oxford.

Officers who searched the Mugambe family home found the woman’s photo ID hidden inside a book called ‘Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995’ in the judge’s bedroom.

‘We say Lydia Mugambe intended to exploit and successfully exploited the alleged victim,’ Ms Haughey said. ‘She never intended to pay her properly. She never intended to treat her correctly.’

She added: ‘Lydia Mugambe has exploited and abused the victim – taking advantage of her lack of understanding of her rights to properly paid employment and deceiving her as to the purpose of her coming to the UK.’

Mugambe denies breaching UK immigration law, facilitating travel with a view to exploitation, forcing someone to work and conspiracy to intimidate a witness.

The trial continues.