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A skipper linked to a fishing company accused of modern slavery has been sentenced to 300 hours of community service after the court described the working conditions on his vessel as “Dickensian.” Tom Nicholson Jr, aged 38, admitted in court that he failed to provide sufficient food, rest, or proper training to five Ghanaian crew members aboard the Sea Lady in the English Channel back in 2017. All five men were subsequently rescued by police and officially identified as victims of modern slavery by the UK Home Office.
Nicholson Jr received the maximum penalty available, which included being electronically tagged as an alternative to imprisonment. Testimonies revealed that foreign fishermen aboard the vessel had to scavenge food from their catch and secretly rotate sleep shifts to manage the grueling workload under his command. Nicholson Jr was employed by his father’s company, TN Trawlers, based in Annan. A 2024 BBC investigation discovered that 35 men who worked for TN Trawlers were recognized as modern slavery victims after suffering similar mistreatment.
Among the crew members named in the indictment was Gershon Norvivor, one of the fishermen featured in a BBC documentary. Due to Nicholson Jr’s guilty plea, Norvivor did not testify but recounted the harsh conditions he endured: “The food they brought on board was not enough. In three or four days, the food was finished.” He added that it felt like imprisonment since workers were forbidden from leaving their tasks for food breaks and feared repercussions if they complained. Norvivor later entered the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and was identified as a modern slavery victim.
During the trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court, Augustus Mensah, another crew member who also appeared in the BBC documentary, described working nonstop with no rest and devising a secret sleep rota. He spoke about the scarcity of food and the toll it took on his health, saying, “I almost died on board.” Other crew members recalled insults from Nicholson Jr, including being called a slave and revelations that his father had instructed him to treat black workers as such. Prosecutors praised the courage of the crew members who testified, emphasizing the trauma they endured under Nicholson Jr’s command and confirming the seriousness of the offences committed
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