Mr HR

Mr HR was convicted of cultivating cannabis in December 2017 at North Staffordshire Justice Centre, following his arrest at the property where he was living. More than 200 cannabis plants were seized. He was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment.  

When Mr HR was interviewed, he stated he did not know his address and had been forced to go there by foreign males a month earlier. Issues of trafficking were raised early in the process.  

Mr HR was referred to the National Referral Mechanism as a potential victim of trafficking or modern slavery, first receiving a negative conclusive grounds decision but on re-consideration, in February 2020, obtaining a positive conclusive grounds decision.  

The CCRC received an application from Mr HR in September 2021 raising issues of exploitation. 

In Mr HR’s case the CCRC concluded that there was a real possibility that the CPS would accept the positive conclusive grounds decision, since there were no “clear reasons”  to dispute it. If the CPS were still to prosecute him, there was a real possibility that the Crown Court would stop the continuation of proceedings as an abuse of process.   

Mr HR would, in any event, have a defence in section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.  

The CCRC referred the conviction in November 2025.