Alton immigrant laundry director guilty

Mr Wu was a director at the laundry where the immigrants were kept

A Berkshire man has been found guilty of assisting unlawful immigration after hiring 23 illegal immigrants at a laundry in Hampshire.

Qing Wu, 42, of Sandhurst, was found guilty on 23 counts, after taking the workers on at Universal Chinese Laundry in Alton.

The workers lived in a cramped block at the laundry where Mr Wu was a director.

Co-defendant, laundry manager Man Kung Wong, 45, of Portsmouth, was cleared of the charges at Winchester Crown Court.

Locked in

Mr Wu will be sentenced at a later date.

During the trial the court heard that the workers lived in the company's industrial unit alongside the laundry.

The jury was told they lived in cramped and filthy accommodation, hidden from view. There was no fresh air and the windows were blacked out.

The court was told the immigrants were locked in the building when visitors came or when they were not working.