Morecambe Bay Victims Fund

Three years ago, twenty three people drowned in Morecambe Bay while working as cockle pickers.

What I didn't realise until reading the Morecambe Bay Victims Fund website was that as well as the loss of their loved ones, this left the grieving families with the debts to pay to the moneylenders. Having borrowed to enable the workers to go to Britain, they were left without the main wage earner, and have been facing beatings, intimidation and in some cases their children being forced into prostitution.

There could hardly be a more stark and sickening example of the effects of people-trafficking and unregulated and dangerous work. The Fund is trying to raise £500,000 to pay off the debts of the families, and to help others in a similar position.