Twisted couple kept 10 slaves locked up in British horror house dubbed ‘Gateway to Hell’

The victims of Maros Tancos and Joanna Gomulska described living with 10 people in a three-bedroom house, sharing a bathroom and sleeping on dirty mattresses, and were locked in when the couple went out

An evil couple who kept vulnerable people as slaves and forced them to do nearly £1million worth of work for free were jailed for a combined 25 years.

Maros Tancos and Joanna Gomulska, both 46, were the ringleaders of a modern slavery and human trafficking operation in Bristol.

They persuaded dozens of vulnerable people to travel from Slovakia to work for them at a city car wash.

Tancos used his connections to orphanages and camps in Slovakia to recruit victims, promising them transportation, a place to live and eat, and a better life.

Victims were told they would keep half of their wages each month while the other half would go towards food and living expenses.

On arrival, however, the victims were kept in squalor at the couple’s three-bedroom home in Brentry Lane, Bristol, and forced to work for free.

They said they were locked in the house and their identification papers and cell phones were taken away.

Tancos co-conspirator Gomulska helped arrange for the transport of laborers in the United Kingdom.

She took her identification documents and only gave them out when they were needed for applications like social security numbers or bank accounts.

Gomulska accompanied the victims to appointments and acted as an interpreter before taking their bank cards and PIN numbers.

The victims worked at the Tancos car wash during the day and were then sent to other jobs at night.

This included catching chickens, packing milk or sorting packages.

NCA investigators found that Tancos and Gomulska failed to pay a minimum wage of £923,835, calculated if Tancos had paid his victims minimum wage eight hours a day.

The couple also transferred almost £300,000 from their victims’ accounts, which they had earned during their part-time jobs.

All the money was spent on Tancos and Gomulska’s living expenses, online gambling or in casinos, and used cars.

Victims said tancos would be violent toward them, some described as having been threatened or beaten.

They said they were too scared to leave the property and had been jailed on many occasions.

Officials from the National Crime Agency launched an investigation in 2017 and traced Tancos and Gomulska’s crimes back to 2010.

The pair were monitored as they transported their victims to and from the car wash and other manual rollers around Bristol.

A total of 42 victims were questioned by specialist officials, and 29 gave information in court about the mistreatment they had suffered.

The victims described their time with the defendants as “disastrous” and said they were humiliated, beaten and punished by tancos.

Another described returning to Slovakia when she became pregnant, where her child was born malnourished and suffered from epileptic seizures because she had no money to bring him back from the UK for groceries.

One victim described the house as “the gateway to hell” and said they were not allowed to leave it.

They said, “The only thing I knew was work. I thought the whole time that I’m a slave there. I thought there was no going back.”

Tancos and Gomulska denied a number of modern slavery and human trafficking offenses but were convicted in April 2022 after a nearly three-month trial and with evidence from 15 victims.

They were sentenced today in the same court.

Tancos received 16 years in prison and Gomulska nine years in prison. Tancos also became the subject of a Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Order (STPO).

Judge Picton commended the NCA team for their work.

Colin Williams, Commander of the NCA Branch, said: “Our investigation has put these two cruel perpetrators behind bars for a long time. The vulnerable victims of Tancos and Gomulska, despite promises of a better life in Britain, were held as prisoners and treated with the utmost contempt.

“Testimonies from the victims revealed the mental and physical scars they still bear from the couple’s treatment.

Mr. Williams added: “Tackling human trafficking and modern slavery is a high priority for the NCA and we hope this outcome will bring victims some closure.”

Protection Secretary Rachel Maclean said: “Tackling modern slavery is my top priority and we need to ensure victims have the support they need to start rebuilding their lives and that criminals who use people to commercialize are given the support they need to start rebuilding their lives Exploit cruelly for purposes, be prosecuted.

“We have given law enforcement agencies the powers and resources to take on gangs who profit from modern slavery, and thanks to the incredible work of the NCA, these criminals have now been brought to justice.”