In February of this year, an entire family was tried for a crime that had never been prosecuted in England.

Senator EK Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and their daughter Sonia were prosecuted for trafficking a man from Nigeria to Britain, for the purposes of harvesting his kidney.

When their plot was uncovered, it triggered a section of the 2015 Modern Slavery Act that had lain dormant on the statute books.

Testimony at the trial revealed that this was not the first organ harvesting since 2015.

Their victim had been a mobile phone seller on the Lagos streets, before he was brought to Britain under false pretences. Pretending he was their daughter's cousin, the Ekweremadus got within a whisker of convincing doctors at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead to carry out the procedure.

This is a story of extreme wealth and hyper-mobility butting-up against the dignity of the world's poorest - a parable about globalisation in the 21st century.

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About The Show

Each week, Fresh From The Old Bailey tells the story of a case from the Central Criminal Court, or the London Crown Courts. Fresh stories of recent trials, told through the eyes of those who were there. This is real true crime. British justice as it is now — from the people who see justice being done, every single day. 

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If you’ve been personally affected by the crimes of the Ekweremadus, or if you have been involved with any of the other cases we've covered, please get in touch through our Gmail: [email protected]. Discretion assured.