Fishing boss fined for breaching human trafficking court order

A fishing trawler boss linked to a series of modern slavery allegations has been fined £2,700 after breaching a human trafficking court order.

Thomas Nicholson, 63, is understood to be the first person in Scotland to receive and breach a Trafficking and Exploitation Risk Order (TERO).

Nicholson - who remains under investigation for trafficking - was given the order by Dumfries Sheriff Court to prevent him moving vessels without providing crew details.

In 2024 his firm TN Trawlers - based in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway - was the subject of a BBC Scotland and Radio 4 investigation into claims of mistreatment of foreign workers.

BBC Scotland's Disclosure's programme, Slavery At Sea, identified 35 men who worked on the fleet of scallop trawlers and went on to be recognised by the UK Home Office as victims of modern slavery.

Dumfries sheriff Euan Cameron said his offence was at the "lower end" of harm and fined him £2,700 with a £175 victim surcharge.

The penalty comes just three days after his son, Tom Jr, pled guilty to failing to provide adequate food and rest to five Ghanaian fishermen in 2017.

Nicholson had been served with the two-year TERO in October 2022 while police investigated claims of human trafficking and modern slavery.

It meant Nicholson had to provide officials from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) with documents and employee details of any non-European crewmen before certain vessels of his fleet could set sail.

The order also prevented him from having any direct or indirect dealings with a number of other boats run by his company.

TEROs were introduced as part of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act in 2015.

When authorities believe there may be a risk of trafficking or exploitation, police can apply for the order.

Unlike a Trafficking and Exploitation Prevention Order (TEPO), an individual does not need to have an existing trafficking conviction before being served with a TERO.

Fiscal depute David Orr said that Nicholson, from Newbie, near Annan, had been the focus of Operation Epazote, a Home Office inquiry into human trafficking at TN Trawlers.

The court heard that Nicholson breached an interim version of the TERO by failing to inform the authorities that he had moved one of his vessels, the Olivia Jean, from a port in the Netherlands to Buckie, Moray, in October 2022.

Before sailing he also did not provide details of any non-European Economic Area (EEA) staff aboard.

Defence solicitor Paul Anderson said the offence had been a "genuine mistake" and that no foreign crewmen were aboard.

He said: "T