A man,43, who went missing for 13 years has claimed he was kept as a slave by Irish travellers, UK.
Darrell Simester, now 43, disappeared after arguing with friends on a holiday in Wales in August 2000.
His desperate parents Tony, 66, and Jean, 61, contacted the police around 50 times but were never able to locate their son.
But after years of searching, they have finally tracked him down in a remote farm in south Wales following an anonymous tip-off.
They found Darrell living in a filthy caravan in a farmyard with no running water. He was starving, wearing dirty, torn clothes and had teeth missing.
“Darrell is settling down to a peaceful family life, something he has missed out on in the last thirteen years,” – Darrell’s mother says.
Now reunited with his family in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, Darrell has a host of medical problems caused by his poor treatment over the past 13 years.
He had been treated like a slave by his masters, who lured him in by offering him a job.
He claimed he was forced to work 12 hours a day and was never given a day off or allowed to visit a doctor, but his fear of repercussions stopped him from running away.
“I never had one day off in 13 years. I was scared what they’d do to me if I didn’t stay there.”
He described how he had been forced to sleep in a rat-filled shed at the farm before being moved into the caravan two years ago, but still had to shower using water from a horse trough.
His father described his son’s treatment as “inhumane and horrendous”.
He added: “These type of people roam the streets picking up the vulnerable and offering them a new life. Then they are treated like dogs.”
Darrell had managed to call his parents every six months for the first eight years to let them know he was alive, but was too terrified to tell them where he was.
Once he implied he was in Ireland but they had no luck finding him there. Then when the calls stopped in 2008 they feared the worst had happened. Mrs Simester set up a Facebook group to help find her son, which had up to 9,000 members at a time helping with the search.
In February Mr and Mrs Simester put out an appeal in a Welsh local paper after receiving information through the group that one of the calls their son had made could have originated in Cardiff.
The next day they received a call from an anonymous person who said they were 95 per cent sure they had seen Darrell at the farm, near Cardiff. Mr and Mrs Simester and their youngest son Duncan travelled to the site with police where they found their son.
Mrs Simester said: “Not having heard from him for four years you’re thinking the worst. When the phone calls stopped… What can I say? This day has made my life.'”
Later the family posted a statement on their Facebook group saying: “We will share our good news..We have our son Darrell back home..So this has been the greatest day of our lives.
Please respect our privacy for the next few days we have to let him recover. Many thanks for all your good wishes over the years and not giving up.
You are wonderful people and I feel that I know you all. From the bottom of my heart a very big thank you!”
The family said Darrell had been to the hospital several times since he came home and had undergone an operation.
His father said his problems were “all down to the conditions he has been subjected to over the last 13 years”, but his mother confirmed he was “getting stronger and coping very well”.
In a message on Facebook, she said: “Darrell is settling down to a peaceful family life, something he has missed out on in the last thirteen years… his health is our priority and each ailment is being dealt with even though it seems to take ages to get anything done for him… he at last sleeps in a proper bed with bed linen and proper washing facilities, clean clothes, all of which he has not had.'”
She said he was slowly being reunited with members of the extended family – including nieces and nephews he had never met – as he felt ready to.
Mrs Simester added: “I have shown him the Missing Darrell Simester page and he couldn’t believe that so many people have been involved.
Thank you to everyone that has supported our family in finding Darrell, without your help, the appeal in the (South Wales) Echo and the One Person who telephoned me with where Darrell was, we still would not have him home.
You are all forever in our hearts and thoughts God Bless you all. Gwent Police said investigations were ongoing into the conditions in which Mr Simester was living and working during the time he was not in contact with his family to establish whether any offences were committed.”
