A man who admitting exploiting a vulnerable victim who was found living in a freezing shed has walked free from court.
On Friday, Peter Swailes Jr, 56, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court to a nine-month jail term, suspended for 18 months.
The victim had been "used and abused" for 40 years by the defendant's father Peter Swailes Snr, the court heard.
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He was made to live in a horse box, a disused caravan and more recently in a squalid shed on a residential site in Carlisle.
The Crown accepted the defendant's guilty plea last month to conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the travel of another with a view to exploitation on the basis he was unaware of the victim's living conditions.
The case was described as 'harrowing' by a senior investigator, who said the victim would be 'traumatised' for the rest of his life, the Manchester Evening News reports.
The verdict comes after a three-year investigation by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), supported by Cumbria Police and the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Investigators carried out a search warrant at Hadrian’s Caravan Park on October 3, 2018.
Peter Swailes was initially charged alongside his 80-year-old father, also called Peter Swailes, with Modern Slavery Offences - but the older man died last year shortly before standing trial.
Swailes Sr had denied the offence.
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