01/09/2026
A man who forced another man living in his shed to work at his scrapyard has been jailed for modern slavery offences.
Full release is on our website – link in the comments.
James Dean Harrison, 51 from Coventry, has been jailed for six and a half years and ordered to pay £10,000 compensation after pleading guilty to requiring a person to perform forced labour.
The victim, who was living in Harrison’s shed, was made to do manual labour work in a scrapyard. Harrison is alleged to have referred to him as “Scrapyard Dog”, and to have regularly subjected him to both physical and verbal abuse.
Harrison also kept the victim’s bank cards, taking for himself £63,625.44 over three years which is believed to have been used to pay for holidays.
We began our investigation when the local councillor raised their concerns with us after meeting with the victim and his partner and facilitating emergency accommodation for them both.
We arrested Harrison on 25 February 2026.
Investigating officer DC Hutt of the Trafficking and Exploitation Team said “The treatment that James Dean Harrison subjected the victim to – stripping him of his dignity, his finances, and seriously impacting his health – was appalling in every way.
“He had approached Harrison as a friend in need of help, and Harrison chose to exploit him for labour and to defraud him of his money.
“We might never have heard about this had it not been for the local community and their councillor – we thank them for calling this to our attention, and allowing us to work to put Harrison in prison for his actions.”
