Three people, including a woman from Bath, have been sentenced following the first successful prosecution in the UK for exploitation and enforced child labour under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act.

Officers from Avon and Somerset Police and Staffordshire Police unravelled the human trafficking operation which saw young Vietnamese teenagers forced to work without wages in nail bars across the country.

Thu Huong Nguyen – known as Jenny – aged 48, of Southdown Road, Bath, was found guilty of conspiring to arrange or facilitate the movement of people for labour exploitation and conspiring to require others to perform forced or compulsory labour following a trial.

She was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment at Stafford Crown Court on 2nd January, along with two other people from Burton-on-Trent.

In court, the judge called the defendants “devious and manipulative”, and said they treated the victims as commodities and exploited them for “pure economic greed.”

The trafficking investigation involved five police forces and the National Crime Agency and began after officers took part in a multi-agency welfare visit to Nail Deluxe in Westgate Street, Bath, in February 2016 – a premises run by Jenny Nguyen. A search of her home in Southdown Road resulted in £60,000 in cash being found concealed inside a stuffed toy.

DI Charlotte Tucker, who led the operation for Avon and Somerset Police and was one of the officers to attend the Bath nail bar, said: “This marks the conclusion of a desperately sad case in which young vulnerable girls were forced to work in nail bars across the country as part of a sophisticated money-making operation.

“Two teenage victims were safeguarded following the warrant carried out on Nail Deluxe in Bath and a further two were located at a nail bar in Burton-on-Trent.

“These victims have had traumatic childhoods and were treated by traffickers as commodities – forced to live and work in unsuitable conditions, with little or no pay, and enduring both physical and verbal abuse.

“We’re pleased with the custodial sentences given out today and hope this case acts as a stark reminder of how modern slavery victims are working and living in plain sight.

“As a community we need to look out for the warning signs and do our part to stop this archaic practice once and for all.”