The man who was kept as a slave on a South Wales farm has spoken about his 13 years of torment and how he was made to work from 6.30am to 5pm without a break.
Timid Darrell Simester had to sleep in a rat-infested shed and wash in a horse trough after working 15-hour days for no pay on Cariad Farm outside Newport.
The man who forced him to work for well over a decade – while his family had no idea what had happened to him – was jailed last week for 4.5 years.
David Daniel Doran, 42, admitted forcing Simester to work on his farm, which Mr Simester’s family said had made him “unrecognisable” from the man they had last seen.
He weighed just 8st and had a bent spine, chest wall deformity, tooth decay and a hernia the size of a tennis ball.
The 45-year-old told the Sun on Sunday: “People think slavery ended hundreds of years ago, but I’m proof it’s happening in the 21st century. I thought I’d never be free but my family never gave up looking.”
In fact it was a desperate plea last year by his parents Tony and Jean, in the South Wales Echo that led to him being found.
It said they feared their “timid” and “easily led” son was being held in the area against his will. A week later that someone tipped off the police and Mr Simester was found on the farm.
His ordeal began in August 2000 when he chose to hitchhike 120 miles home after a row during a caravan holiday in Porthcawl.
Doran and another man pulled over and offered him some work, but Darrell said: “I replied ‘No think, I want to get home.’ But they dragged me on the truck. I wish I’d put up more of a fight, but they weren’t people you want to mess with.”
When they got back to the farm, near Newport Darrell said: “David showed me the shed where I’d sleep. After an hour he came back with a shovel and wheelbarrow and told me to get to work.”
It was some of what was the follow for the next 13 years, with up to 15 hours a day working.
He said: “At 6.30am, I started mucking out 150 horses, with no break until 5pm. At 5.30pm, someone would bring stew before I locked up at 6pm and began watching over the farm. Early on I made a mistake with the horses.
“David threw a shovel at my head which missed by an inch. I was too scared to ask for wages, clothes or medicine.”
He was only allowed two calls him a year from 2000 to 2008, but David was always standing nearby telling him what to say.
Darrell was even tricked into believing that his parents were dead, but his mum said that having him back was amazing.
She said: “That hug after 13 years was like winning the lottery.”
