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Fifteen people imprisoned in house forced to live in squalor by gangmaster

A Romanian man forced 15 people to live in squalid conditions inside a three-bedroom house in county Armagh, Craigavon Crown Court has heard.

Ioan Lacatus made his Romanian victims work up to 70 hours a week and sometimes weeks on end without a break.

The BBC reports that they served limited cold food and shared just one toilet and a shower.

Lacatus, who has a string of previous convictions in different countries, kept victims’ wages and told them they were not to go outside.

Four people managed to flee the property in Portadown before revealing their dire situation to police

Lacatus’s wife, Cristina Covaci and her brother Samuil Cavaci, were also in court because of their involvement.

All three will be sentenced next week.

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