UN judge who kept woman as a slave while studying law at Oxford is jailed

A United Nations judge who forced a young woman to work as a slave while she studied for a PhD in law at the University of Oxford has been jailed for more than six years.

Lydia Mugambe, 50, was found to have taken ‘advantage of her status’ over the Ugandan woman in the ‘most egregious way’.

Mugambe, who is also a High Court judge in Uganda, stopped the woman holding down steady employment and forced her to work as her maid and provide childcare.

Following her convictions, bodycam footage released by the police showed Mugambe appearing shocked when she was arrested under the Modern Slavery Act.

She told one officer: ‘I am a judge in my country, I even have immunity. I am not a criminal.’

Mugambe was found guilty in March of conspiring to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law, facilitating travel with a view to exploitation, forcing someone to work, and conspiracy to intimidate a witness after a trial at Oxford Crown Court.

She was jailed for six years and four months at the same court today.

In a written statement, read to the court by prosecutor Caroline Haughey KC, the victim described living in ‘almost constant fear’ due to Mugambe’s powerful standing in Uganda.

The young woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that she ‘can’t go back to Uganda’ due to concerns of what may happen to her and added that she may never see her mother again.

Ms Haughey told jurors during the trial that Mugambe exploited her victim by taking advantage of her lack of knowledge about employment rights and misleading her about why she came to the UK.

Jurors agreed that Mugambe conspired with Ugandan deputy high commissioner John Leonard Mugerwa to bring the young woman to the UK.

Prosecutors said they took part in a ‘very dishonest’ trade-off, in which Mr Mugerwa arranged for the Ugandan High Commission to sponsor the woman’s entrance into the UK in exchange for Mugambe attempting to speak to a judge who was in charge of legal action in which Mr Mugerwa was named.

Jurors also accepted that the defendant conspired to intimidate the woman to have her withdraw her support for the prosecution, or the charges against her to be dropped.

The charge said Mugambe contacted a pastor to assist in making contact with the young Ugandan woman, arranged for members of the woman’s family to be contacted so they could persuade her to drop the case, and arranged for an email to be sent directly to her.

Mugambe denied forcing the young woman to do household chores and said she ‘always’ treated her with love, care and patience.

The young woman Mugambe tricked into coming to the UK, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court previously she felt ‘lonely’ and ‘stuck’ after her working hours were limited.

According to her UN profile page, Mugambe was appointed to the body’s judicial roster in May 2023, three months after police were called to her address in Oxfordshire.

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