A woman has been sentenced to three years in prison for trafficking Lithuanians to the UK and forcing them to work collecting bags for Dreams Come True, a charity for terminally ill children.

Jurate Grigelyte, 53, herself originally from Lithuania, trafficked nine men and two women to the UK with the promise of work and then housed them in cramped accommodation. Some delivered and collected charity bags and others sorted the donations for Grigelyte's business.

She admitted 10 charges of facilitating entry into the UK with a view exploiting labour, 10 charges of trafficking around the UK and one count of forced labour and was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on 18 June.

Police arrested Grigelyte in November 2013 after a school raised concerns about the welfare of a six-year-old boy, who was the son of one of the victims. The workers, who spoke little or no English, were paid as little as £25 per day. Grigelyte also charged them £50 per week for accommodation and fined them £50 if they could not work.

Investigating officer, Richard O’Brien said: “Grigelyte would force them to live in rented properties in poor conditions and would lock them inside, only allowing them to leave through a window.

“They had no money to buy food and at one stage were living solely off potatoes. Many were forced to find food at a free food kitchen.”

Paul Newman, chief executive of the charity, is meeting with Byronswell Ltd this week.

“We have demanded an immediate check on all Byronswell Ltd's other subcontractors to ensure that there is no possibility of anything like this happening anywhere else either now or in the future,” he said.