‘Scrapyard dog’: West Midlands man jailed after victim forced to live and work from garden shed
The defendant chose to exploit the victim for labour and to defraud him of his money
A police investigation led to a 51-year-old man from Coventry being jailed for six and a half years after officers found him using a man who lived in a shed in his back garden for forced labour.
On August 28, James Dean Harrison from Shaftesbury Avenue in Keresley End pleaded guilty to requiring a person to perform forced labour.
In addition to his prison sentence, Harrison has been served with a Slavery and Trafficking Reparation Order and told to pay compensation of £10,000.
Between November 1, 2022 and February 23, 2026, Harrison had been accommodating a man in his 60s in a shed in his back garden.
He had become homeless and approached Harrison for assistance. The man shared the shed with his partner (a woman in her 50s) and Harrison’s dog.
Harrison took the victim’s bank cards and refused to return them, initially giving the victim £30 a day from the victim’s account, later reducing this to £20.
Based on payments received by the victim through Universal Credit and his pension between 2023 and 2026, there was a total of £63,625.44 missing from his account.
It is believed this money was used by Harrison to fund holidays for himself.
The victim was made to work in a scrapyard, manual labour involving painting skips, unloading and loading skips, and cleaning lorry cabs.
Harrison is alleged to have referred to him as “scrapyard dog”, and to have regularly subjected him to both physical and verbal abuse.
Police began the investigation when a local councillor raised their concerns after meeting with the victim and his partner and facilitating emergency accommodation for them both.
Police arrested Harrison on February 25 this year.
Investigating officer DC Hutt of the trafficking and exploitation team said: “The treatment that James Dean Harrison subjected the victim to – stripping him of his dignity, his finances, and seriously impacting his health – was appalling in every way.
“He had approached Harrison as a friend in need of help, and Harrison chose to exploit him for labour and to defraud him of his money.
“We might never have heard about this had it not been for the local community and their councillor – we thank them for calling this to our attention, and allowing us to work to put Harrison in prison for his actions.”