Ugandan on trial in the UK over modern slavery

A Ugandan has been charged by the England-based Thames Valley Police in connection with modern slavery, according to reports.
Ms Lydia Mugambe, according to the Thames Valley Police website, has been charged with three counts, conspiracy to facilitate a breach of UK immigration laws by a non-UK national.
She has also been charged with one count of arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation, and one more count of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour. 
The charges were authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service and are in connection with a modern slavery investigation, involving one victim. 
Modern slavery is where one person controls another for profit by exploiting their vulnerability.
Ms Mugambe, 49, who is currently residing at Lyne Road, Kidlington, in England, will have her marathon trial starting on February 10, 2025, which trial is expected to last three weeks at Oxford Crown Court.
The Thames Valley Police website shows that Ms Mugambe was charged and remanded on August 7 but the case was uploaded on their website on Tuesday last week.
We could not independently verify by press time if the lady in question is the same as High Court judge Lydia Mugambe, who is on sabbatical leave from the Uganda Judiciary to pursue her PhD in Oxford, England.
Judiciary responds 
The Judiciary Public Relations Officer, Mr James Ereemye, when asked whether the Judiciary knew the person facing the charges, said fact-gathering was ongoing.
“Yes we have read them in the mainstream media and we are yet to get the true facts and when we do, we shall be able to respond at the appropriate time,” he said in a telephone interview. 
Efforts to reach Justice Mugambe were futile by press time. 
Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo when contacted last evening, briefly said: “I have seen social media posts about the same but I’m taking the official steps to establish their truthfulness.”
But sources within the Judiciary said the top management was not happy that they were kept in the dark over the charging and jailing of the lady since August this year.
Family sources close to Ms Mugambe said she could be a victim of a scheme by a girl who she helped to travel to the UK but was destined to another place, but not to work for Mugambe.
The family member further said when the suspected girl got to the UK, she was advised by her friends to report to the police that she was being held by the Ugandan lady against her will.
“…that was her first stop when she got to the UK and she got comfortable there. But she wasn’t meant to be there… so the person, of course, was advised by other girls living in the neighbourhood, yeah, that she could get permanent papers and more work and more money if she actually reported like she was being held against her will or something like that which was not the case at all,” a source said.
Multiple sources indicated last evening that the Attorney General and the Foreign Affairs were handling the matter.
Ms Tina Wamala, the communications specialist at the British High Commission in Uganda, said: “I have seen posts on social media, but I know nothing more.”
Ms Wamala also promised to get back to us once she had gathered more information about the matter.
According to UK laws, once found guilty of modern slavery, one is liable to a maximum statutory penalty of life imprisonment.