How the maid Justice Lydia Mugambe trusted with all her life betrayed her

Some of Justice Lydia Mugambe’s friends thought her maid was her sister.

“She [Mugambe] addressed her respectfully and the two would often share jokes,” said one of the people who spoke to Bbeg Media.

“She trusted her with her life. With her maid, Mugambe was so comfortable and never worried about the safety of her children as she got busy with her judicial duties,” said another. “They were like sisters.”

Little did Mugambe know that the person she trusted, laughed with and told some of her secrets, would turn against her, ruin her career and leave her hard-gained reputation in tatters.

As Mugambe waits to be sentenced on May 2, her options appear grim. She could be sentenced to life in prison or given a ligher sentence of not more than five years in jail.

Whatever the sentence, Mugambe’s life and legal career are ruined. Her PhD scholarship at the University of Oxford will be cancelled, her appointment at the UN tribunal will be rescinded and her judicial career in Uganda could be all but over.

Bbeg Media spoke to two people who knew and interacted with Justice Mugambe. They requested for anonymity in order not to jeopardize their relationship with Mugambe. For legal reasons, we decided not to reveal the identity of the maid.

What happened?

When Mugambe got a PhD scholarship at the University of Oxford in 2022, it required her to make several personal arrangements.

Since she was going to be a full-time student, she needed someone to look after her young children, one of whom was below 10 years.

She could not afford to employ a nanny given the fact that her upkeep in the UK was modest. She then hatched the idea of flying in her long time Ugandan housemaid to take care of the kids.

But there were some complications. Under which pretext would she secure  a visa for the maid? Would she come as a visitor? A student? Or a worker?

Each of these three levels has its requirements and complexities.

Students must show proof of admission to an institition, workers must table proof that they have been given a job offer in the UK while a visitor must show evidence that they have the means to look after themselves in the UK.

Se contacted the UK High Commission for assistance and got in touch with John Leonard Mugerwa, Uganda’s Deputy High Commissioner.

According to court proceedings, Mugerwa working with Mugambe, hatched the plan of flying the maid into the UK under the pretext that she was going to work for Mugerwa as a cleaner. It is Mugerwa, who had diplomatic immunity, who processed the travel documents and boom! the maid landed in the UK.

Once in the UK, Mugambe received the maid and verbally told her she would be paid Shs 500,000, Shs 100,000 more than she was paying her in Uganda. The maid agreed.

As Mugambe concentrated on her PhD studies, she kept her eyes off the maid.

This allowed the maid to occasionally venture out for walks with the children to kill boredom.

It was during one of the walks when the maid ran into some Ugandans who asked her what she did for a living. She innocently told them that she worked as a housemaid at Justice Mugambe’s home.

Knowing the prohibitive cost of hiring a maid in the UK, they wondered how much the Ugandan judge paid her. She told them Shs 500,000 per month (£105). They told her under UK laws, the figure was too low and that she was being exploited. They told the maid to ask for an increment commensurate with the minimum wage in the UK for her type of work.

Convniced by what she had been told, one day, the maid in a foul mood, confronted Mugambe and told her she wanted her money increased to at least Shs 5 million (£1000). Mugambe was alarmed and said that will not be possible. She reminded the maid that they had agreed on the fee before she was brought to the UK.

She also told her that she had met her visa and air-ticker costs to the UK and was feeding and housing her.

The maid appeared to have relented but when she ran into the same people again and told them what the judge had said, they told to report the matter to the police and claim that she was being exploited.

She was told that if she did, she would be protected and that she would be given a permanent residence permit.

On February 10, 2025, she went to the Thames Valley Police and reported the case. The maid was put under witness protection and assigned someone from the National Crime Agency Specialist Witness Team, to protect her.

The police then contacted Mugambe and told her to come and make a statement. She first declined saying that as a High Court judge in Uganda, she had diplomatic immunity. They insisted that she make a statement.

When she appeared reluctant to come to the police, they swung into action and stormed her residence at Lyne Road, Kidlington.

The police officers who were wearing body cameras read the charges against her and took her into custody. Mugambe was later given police bond while the Thames Valley Police continued with  the investigations.

Early this year, the case was brought to court and after several hearings, Mugambe was convicted of modern slavery offences on March 13, 2025.

The commander for Oxfordshire, Chief Superintendent Ben Clark said “Mugambe used her position of power as well as her knowledge of the law to take advantage of the victim, ensuring that she would become her unpaid domestic” servant.

What Mugambe overlooked 

Unlike in Uganda where someone will routinely pick up a maid from a relative and employ her without any written contract, in the UK things are very different when it comes to labour laws.

First, in the UK, a nanny is paid a minimum wage of £11.45  (Shs 54,000) per hour. This rate applies to people who work a maximum of eight hours a day.

Court established that Mugambe’s maid was working for more than 12 hours a day while being paid way below the minimum wage. At the UK rate, the maid ought to have been paid at least Shs 432,000 per day which translates into Shs 12.96 million per month. Justice Mugambe could not afford this money.

Second, workers must have a National Insurance (NI) number which Mugambe’s maid did not. Payments go through this number.

Third, it is a crime to pay someone cash as a salary in the UK because it could be regarded as an attempt to evade income tax.