United Kingdom: Ugandan magistrate, UN judge, and Oxford doctoral student sentenced to prison for exploiting a slave. She allegedly "showed no remorse" and "tried to blame the victim" (Update)

A UN judge has been sentenced to six years and four months in prison for forcing a woman to work as a domestic slave.

Lydia Mugambe, 50, was studying for a doctorate in law at Oxford University when police discovered that a young Ugandan woman was working unpaid in her home as a cleaner and nanny.

Ms Mugambe, who is also a judge of Uganda's High Court, was sentenced to prison by Oxford Crown Court on Friday after being found guilty of modern slavery-related offenses in March.

Sentencing, Judge David Foxton said the defendant had "shown no remorse" for her actions and had sought to "forcibly blame" the victim for what happened.

[…]

BBC

Lydia Mugambe, a Ugandan magistrate serving as a judge at the United Nations, was found guilty Thursday by a British court of modern slavery for forcing a young woman to work in her home in England. The 49-year-old woman, a magistrate at the High Court of Uganda and a judge at the United Nations, "took advantage of her status" to the detriment of her victim by forcing her to work as her housekeeper and care for her children without pay, the prosecutor said during the trial at Oxford Magistrates' Court (south).

Lydia Mugambe, a Ugandan magistrate serving as a judge at the United Nations and a doctoral candidate at Oxford, held her housekeeper as a slave; upon her arrest, she cited her "immunity" https://t.co/buWPfy2zpX pic.twitter.com/tqY8ALzko4

— Fdesouche.com is a press review (@F_Desouche) March 14, 2025

She will be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on May 2.

The Morning / BBC / Police UK