Judge Lydia Mugambe

Judge Lydia Mugambe was initially appointed to the judicial roster of the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) in May 2023 – three months after her arrest in Oxford, where she was studying for a law PhD.

The 49-year-old previously served as a judge of the Ugandan High Court from 2013 until 2020 and claimed to have diplomatic immunity arising from this when police arrived to arrest her on suspicion of immigration and modern slavery offences.

A jury in Oxford Crown Court unanimously found her guilty of one count of conspiring to do an act to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law by a non-UK national; one count of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour; and one count of conspiracy to intimidate a witness.

She was also found guilty by a majority verdict of one count of arranging or facilitating travel of another person with a view to exploitation.

Thames Valley Police launched the investigation after receiving a report on 10 February 2023 that a woman was being held as a slave by Judge Mugambe at her then address in Brasenose Drive, Kidlington.

The judge had obtained a visa for the victim to work in the UK on the basis that she would be paid to work for the then deputy high commissioner at the Ugandan Embassy in London, John Mugerwa.

Instead, Judge Mugambe paid for the victim’s plane ticket to the UK, picked her up from the airport, and thereafter the victim became her slave, carrying out unpaid work as a domestic maid and nanny.

It was the prosecution’s case that Mr Mugerwa sponsored the victim’s entry into the UK as a domestic worker in his personal household but under the auspices of the Ugandan High Commission.

He was entitled to do this in his diplomatic role, whereas Judge Mugambe could not sponsor a visa as she was a student in the UK at that time.

The prosecution argued that communications between Judge Mugambe and Mr Mugerwa demonstrated that Mr Mugerwa facilitated the victim’s visa in the knowledge she would actually work in servitude for Judge Mugambe, and in return that Judge Mugambe would provide him assistance relation in a separate court case in Uganda.

Thames Valley Police said it investigated Mr Mugerwa’s involvement in its case, but he had diplomatic immunity which the Ugandan government did not waive, meaning he could not be charged with any offences.

Chief superintendent Ben Clark, the local commander for Oxfordshire, said: “Lydia Mugambe is an extremely qualified lawyer, a Ugandan High Court judge and a UN criminal tribunal judge.

“As such, there is no doubt that she knew she was committing offences by bringing the victim to the UK under the pretence that she was going to work for the then deputy high commissioner at the Ugandan Embassy in London, thus providing her a legal route of entry, but knowing all along that she intended to make the victim work in servitude.

“Mugambe used her position of power as well as her knowledge of the law to take advantage of the victim, ensuring that she would become her unpaid domestic servant.

“After the offences had been reported to the police, Mugambe tried to evade justice by repeatedly claiming she had diplomatic immunity due to her status as a Ugandan High Court judge and, after her appointment as a United Nations judge.

“Any immunity Mugambe may have enjoyed as a UN judge has been waived by the Office of the United Nations Secretary General.”

He added: “I want to commend the victim for her bravery in coming forward to report the offences. I, and the whole investigation team, wish her all the best for her future now she is out of servitude and justice has been served.”

Judge Mugambe will be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on 2 May.