A couple who imprisoned a mentally-disordered woman for eight years and kept her as their sex slave have been jailed for a total of 18 years.
When police rescued the woman from the house in Craigavon, Ireland she weighed 38kg and had just one tooth left in her mouth, the BBC reports.
The woman who had learning difficulties was taken from her home in England in 2004 and was reported missing by her husband, but seemed to have vanished without a trace.
Keith Baker and his wife Caroline kept her in a squalid room without a door handle and fed her on a diet of Quality Street chocolates as a “reward” after she was raped by men, UK media report.
Police were eventually alerted to the woman’s horrific plight by another woman living in the house, who had four children with Mr Baker and was also allegedly abused by him.
The woman was found in 2012 and last month Mr Baker and his wife pleaded guilty to several charged including sexual activity involving penetration and causing a person with a mental disorder to engage in sexual activity.
Mr Baker was sentenced to 15 years’ jail and Mrs Baker was given a three-year sentence, 18 months of which will be served in jail.
A camera was kept in the bedroom with the woman and police found videos of the Bakers abusing their victim.
Many men were also reported to be seen coming and going from the house by neighbours.
Detective Chief Superintendent George Clarke said that the Bakers had stolen the woman’s basic human rights and while the case had been challenging it “pales to insignificance” to what she had endured.
“What [she] went through is unimaginable – it doesn’t bear thinking about what this victim endured over the thousands of days she was kept prisoner,” he said.
