Lydia Mugambe, a 49-year-old woman employed as a judge for the United Nations, was found guilty on Thursday on multiple charges relating to a Ugandan woman she kept as a domestic slave while studying at the prestigious University of Oxford, according to British police.
Oxford Crown Court found that Mugambe conspired to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law, facilitated travel with a view to exploitation, forced someone to work, and conspired to intimidate a witness, The Telegraph reported.
She is expected to be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on May 2.
Prosecutors asserted that Mugambe took “advantage of her status” over her victim and that, in order to force the Ugandan woman to work as her maid, she prevented her from maintaining other employment.
Caroline Haughey KC, prosecuting, told jurors, “On her [the Ugandan woman's] arrival, she was made to work for Ms. Mugambe from the very start, unremunerated and acting as maid and for child care to give Ms. Mugambe back her life.
“Deprived of her freedom to choose her own work, to control her ID documents, she was beholden to Ms Mugambe," Haughey KC added.
Mugambe’s trial heard she had the intention of “obtaining someone to make her life easier and at the least possible cost to herself.”
The scandal was also said to have involved the Ugandan High Commission, who sponsored the woman’s entrance into the UK in a reported trade-off for Mugambe attempting to speak to a judge who was in charge of legal action against him.
Diplomatic immunity
Thames Valley Police released footage of Mugambe’s arrest, in which she was said to appear shocked at her detainment.
"I am a judge in my country. I even have immunity. I am not a criminal," she told an officer before assuring him that she held a diplomatic passport.
Lydia Mugambe, a UN & Ugandan judge, has today been convicted of bringing a woman into the country illegally & then forcing her to work as a slave.Mugambe tried to evade justice by claiming she had diplomatic immunity, which has now been removed https://t.co/g0nVYCPBl7 pic.twitter.com/duzVQET6Jk
— Thames Valley Police (@ThamesVP) March 13, 2025
Mugambe was appointed to the UN's judicial roster in May 2023, three months after police were called to her address in Oxfordshire, according to her UN profile page.
"Mugambe is a member of several professional associations, including the International Association of Women Judges, the East Africa Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association, the Uganda Women Judges’ Association, the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association, and the Oxford Human Rights Hub," her profile claimed.
"She has published and presented on issues of human rights and children’s rights," it added.
Thames Valley Police commander for Oxfordshire, Ch Supt Ben Clark, said, "Lydia Mugambe is an extremely qualified lawyer, a Ugandan High Court judge and a UN Criminal Tribunal judge.
"After the offences had been reported to the police, Mugambe tried to evade justice by repeatedly claiming she had diplomatic immunity due to her status," Clark added.
"Any immunity Mugambe may have enjoyed as a UN judge has been waivered by the Office of the United Nations Secretary General."
