Prosecutors said Lydia Mugambe, 49, took “advantage of her status” over her victim by preventing her from holding down steady employment and forcing her to work as her maid.
OXFORD, England— A Ugandan High Court judge and member of a United Nations criminal tribunal has been sentenced to six years and four months in prison in the United Kingdom for crimes related to modern slavery.
Justice Lydia Mugambe, 49, was sentenced Friday by Oxford Crown Court after being convicted in March 2025 of trafficking a young Ugandan girl into the UK under false pretenses.
Mugambe, who had moved to Oxford to pursue doctoral studies at Oxford University, exploited her judicial standing to facilitate the girl’s travel, promising her employment and a better future, the court found.
Instead, the young woman was forced into unpaid domestic servitude. Prosecutors argued that Mugambe conspired with John Leonard Mugerwa, who was then the Ugandan deputy high commissioner, to bring the girl to the UK using fraudulent documents.
Testimony revealed that the girl’s employment contract, which stated she would work for Mugerwa as a domestic worker, was falsified. Upon arrival in the UK, she was handed over to Mugambe.
“She later informed the girl that she would be employed as her housemaid with a salary and could also seek other job opportunities,” according to court testimony reported by Sky News.
However, those promises never materialized. The girl was never paid for her work, which included childcare. Her attempts to find other employment were thwarted when Mugambe withheld her identification documents, leaving her dependent and vulnerable.
A jury convicted Mugambe on multiple charges, including conspiracy to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law, arranging or facilitating travel for exploitation, forcing a person into compulsory labor, and conspiring to intimidate a witness.
Mugambe’s sentencing is an unusual case of a sitting judge from a foreign country being convicted of such serious offenses in the UK.
Diplomatic sources indicate that discussions are underway between the British and Ugandan governments regarding a potential prisoner exchange, which could result in Mugambe being transferred to Uganda to serve her sentence or face deportation.
