THE charity that rescued a Harrow “slave” says it is disappointed her tormentor's sentence was “so low” and is “confused” by the level of compensation.

Saeeda Khan, 68, walked free from Southwark Crown Court with a nine month suspended sentence yesterday for subjecting Mwanahanisi Mruke to four years of “degrading” abuse.

Khan was ordered to pay her victim £25,000 in compensation, equivalent to a little more than £6,000 a year or 90 pence for each hour the 48-year-old is estimated to have worked.

She was only saved after describing her treatment to an interpreter at a doctors appointment and charity Kalayaan and the police were brought in to free her.

In a statement, the charity welcomed the first sentence for trafficking for domestic servitude but added: “We are disappointed that the sentence was so low. “The domestic worker in this case effectively lost four years of her life to the trafficker.”

Ms Mruke was summoned using a bell, kept prisoner in Khan's Whitmore Road home and forced to sleep on a mattress in the kitchen when a bed was available.

She was denied permission to fly back to Tanzania to say goodbye to her dying parents, or go to their funerals, and even the £40 a month she had been promised was only paid for a handful of months.

The charity said: “Kalayaan is particularly encouraged by the fact that the court awarded compensation to the domestic worker.

“Poverty makes people vulnerable to trafficking and compensation is not only an important part of the justice process but it can also help to prevent the re-trafficking in the future and help people move on and recover their lives.

“We are however confused by the logic under which the compensation was awarded. The award amounts to £6,000 for each of the years taken from the victim. “When compared to the hours worked, it approximates at 90 pence per hour.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Martin, head of the Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Command, said: “I would like to commend the victim who has shown incredible strength and courage by coming forward to the authorities to relay her terrifying and degrading ordeal.”