Skipper sentenced for 'Dickensian' treatment of foreign crewmen
Skipper Tom Nicholson Jr received a community sentence after being found guilty of failing to provide adequate food and rest to foreign crew members.
A skipper for a fishing company involved in modern slavery allegations has been sentenced to 300 hours of community service for what a sheriff described as "Dickensian" conditions aboard his vessel.
Tom Nicholson Jr, 38, admitted to neglecting to provide sufficient food, rest, or training to five workers from Ghana while captaining the Sea Lady in the English Channel in 2017.
All five men were subsequently rescued by police and identified by the UK Home Office as victims of modern slavery.
Nicholson, 38, was handed the maximum sentence and will be fitted with an electronic tag as an alternative to custody.
Foreign fishermen previously testified in court that they had to scavenge food from the vessel's catch and create secret sleep schedules while working under Nicholson Jr.
Nicholson Jr was employed by his father's company, TN Trawlers, based in Annan.
In 2024, a BBC investigation revealed that 35 men who worked for the company were later recognised as victims of modern slavery.
Gershon Norvivor was among the Sea Lady crew named in Nicholson's indictment.
Due to Nicholson Jr's guilty plea during his trial, Norvivor was unable to give evidence.
The 43-year-old, who continues to work as a fisherman in Scotland, was one of nine men featured in the BBC documentary Slavery at Sea, which exposed trafficking allegations at TN Trawlers.
Speaking this week, he said:
"To survive, it was very hard. The food they brought on board was not enough. In three or four days, the food was finished. You can't even leave the work and go to eat. If you leave, the skipper started shouting."
He added:
"Because you don't know anywhere, who are you going to complain to? I said, 'Are we in prison or what? Because it seems like we are in prison'."
Norvivor was later identified as a victim of modern slavery after being entered into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) by police in 2017.
He stated:
"I feel good for people to know that this is what is going on in the fishing industry."
'I almost died on board'
Nicholson Jr pled guilty after three days of evidence at Hamilton Sheriff Court in June.
Augustus Mensah, who also appeared in the BBC documentary, testified that he began working for the company in September 2017.
While on the Sea Lady, he said he worked continuously without rest, creating a "secret rota" that allowed the crew to sleep in short shifts.
He described the food shortage, stating they resorted to eating octopus and fish caught during the harvest.
Mensah said:
"It impacted my health, my mental health. My body deteriorated and I almost died on board."
In December 2017, Mensah suffered a head injury aboard the Sea Lady and was taken ashore at Portsmouth, where he later reported the conditions to police.
His colleague Joshua Amissah also testified about the lack of food and rest.
When asked if he had complained about the conditions, Amissah said:
"[The skipper] told me that I was a slave. He said that his father had told him that any black person he worked with, he must treat that person as a slave."
The crew members were later recognised as victims of modern slavery.
Prosecutor Sineidin Corrins, of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), stated:
"These men showed commendable courage in coming forward to provide difficult testimony in court. Their accounts detailed the harrowing and completely unacceptable conditions they were forced to endure under the captaincy of Tom Nicholson. And those testimonies helped to ensure he was convicted of a serious offence."
She added:
"They suffered significant trauma while he was in charge of the vessel and responsible for their well-being and safety. Tom Nicholson has now been brought to account by the court for his offending conduct."
Father fined for breaching order
This case is part of a prolonged investigation involving TN Trawlers and allegations of modern slavery throughout the 2010s.
In August 2024, a three-year investigation by Disclosure and File on 4 included testimony from former TN workers from Ghana, India, and the Philippines.
The men alleged mistreatment while working aboard vessels in the Annan-based fleet.
The BBC identified 35 foreign men who worked for TN Trawlers and were later recognised by the UK Home Office as victims of modern slavery.
In October 2024, another group of fishermen from Ghana were awarded £20,000 each in compensation by the UK government.
The crew were rescued in 2020 from the scallop-trawler Olivia Jean, also owned by TN Trawlers.
In June, company owner Thomas Nicholson – father of Tom Nicholson Jr – was fined £2,700 for breaching a Trafficking and Exploitation Risk Order (Tero).
It was the first conviction of its kind in Scottish legal history.
Nicholson had been served with the Tero – which placed restrictions on his business activities – while he was the focus of a Home Office-led inquiry into human trafficking.
TN Trawlers denied any allegations of modern slavery or human trafficking, stating that its workers were well-treated and well-paid.
