British trafficking victim suing Priti Patel over alleged ‘abuse of personal data’

Lawyers argue Home Office breached human rights of ‘extremely vulnerable’ woman

Priti Patel
(Image credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

A British victim of of sex abuse and drug trafficking is bringing a case against Home Secretary Priti Patel, arguing that her department “unlawfully accessed personal information including details of her intimate thoughts”.

The woman cannot be identified, but “is currently living in a safe house, assisted round the clock by support workers” due to a combination of learning difficulties and mental health problems, The Guardian reports.

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Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs. 

Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a master’s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.