Woman Keeps Brother's Match.com Date As Slave And Tortures Her With Bleach

A woman who kidnapped her brother's Match.com date and forced her to act as a slave for 14 months has been jailed for four years.

Mandy Leacock forced the victim, who cannot be named, to live with her in West London after she met her brother, Colin, on Match.com.

She turned the woman into a slave, feeding her on scraps from her garbage bin, beating her up and pouring bleach over her, leaving her with “awful” injuries.

Leacock, 36, was arrested when the woman managed to escape in May 2016 after the 14-month ordeal. She was arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment and modern slavery.

She pleaded guilty to three counts of actual bodily harm.

The victim, who has mental health issues, met Colin in early 2014 after talking to him on Match.com, but ended up being used as an “unpaid skivvy” by her date's sister.

During the months of abuse, the woman tried to kill herself and accused Colin of raping her as a way of getting revenge on Leacock.

Speaking at London's Southwark Crown Court, the victim said she was attacked by Leacock “every day.”

She told the court,

Mandy made me a slave. I felt humiliated. I didn't cry because I got that used to it at the time. I got used to getting hit, that's why I didn't cry. I haven't got proper emotions.

The woman said she was “starved” by Leacock, forced to eat from the bin, had her hair pulled out and bleach poured over her head.

Leacock also stole the woman's credit card and went shopping, buying expensive clothes and a watch for her ex-boyfriend.

The victim finally escaped when Leacock left the apartment.

She walked into a local food store to get help, and was found with burns and scabs, and had hair missing due to chemical damage.

Judge Stephen Robbins said,

I have seen the photos of the victim which show the awful physical harm that she sustained, but do not show the mental anguish that she suffered. Suffice to say that anyone who treats another human being — and a vulnerable one at that, as she was with borderline personality disorder, suffering from depression and anxiety, taking overdoses — with sustained cruelty as you did can expect to receive an immediate custodial sentence of some length. This was persistently cruel conduct, gratuitous degradation using a corrosive substance, bleach, on a vulnerable victim.

Colin Leacock was cleared of all charges.

Citations: Woman jailed for keeping brother's match.com date as a slave (Metro)