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He was forced to live in a shed with no light or heating, be fed leftovers and had to fight others for sport.

But this isn’t a story from centuries gone by, it is the real life horror that a Scottish man endured at the hands of a Cardiff family of travellers for 26 years who he says treated him “like a slave”.

When police discovered the conditions Michael Hughes was living in, they had to leave him in the “home” he had while they gathered evidence against the family responsible.

There were months of secret meetings between him and Gwent Police officers before the case was strong enough.

It was only then Mr Hughes could be rescued.

In May this year, his evidence to Cardiff Crown Court led to four men being jailed but he admits he is still scarred and said “I feel like some days, there is no point in living”.

Patrick Joseph Connors, 59, of Rumney, Cardiff, was convicted with his son Patrick Dean Connors and nephew William Connors of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour.

Patrick Dean Connors was handed a six and a half-year prison sentence, while William Connors was jailed for four years.

They ran a tarmacking business based at a farm in Rumney

'Some days you got a fiver'

Patrick Joseph Connors’ son-in-law Lee Christopher Carbis, 34, of Trowbridge, was cleared of the compulsory labour charge against Mr Hughes but found guilty of kidnapping another man known as Mr K.

He was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

In his first interview with The Sunday Times, Mr Hughes, 46, said he left his home in Aberdeen aged 17 for Cardiff in search of work.

“We had nowhere to stay, so we went to the Salvation Army [hostel]. The next morning we heard these guys saying, ‘Anyone want a day’s work?’

(Image: Wales News Service Ltd.)

“So I went to work for the guy...Some days you got a fiver. Some days you never got nothing. You’ve got to go to work the next day to get yesterday’s wages, so they entice you in that way.”

Mr Hughes was made to sleep in the back of a lorry and washed out of a bucket.

“We weren’t allowed to use the toilet. We had to just go in the fields. That was just the laws and you had to abide by it otherwise you’d get a beating.”

After a few months, Mr Hughes fell into the hands of Patrick Joseph Connors, known as Paddy, a traveller who ran a tarmacking and paving business.

'No heating, no light, nothing'

Connors told him he would get proper pay and a room of his own. Instead, he was told to stay in a tiny shed behind their house.

“It was a little garden shed with nothing in it, just a quilt on the floor. No heating, no light, no nothing,” said Mr Hughes.

“They called me ‘the dosser’. If they wanted their car washed at six o’clock in the morning when it was absolutely frozen over, you had to go and wash it. If the kids wanted to go somewhere, you had to drop them off and pick them up, even though I’ve got no licence or nothing. When I was out tarmacking, sometimes I wouldn’t get back until 11 o’clock at night. I just had to be their slave really.”

(Image: Wales News Service Ltd.)

Mr Hughes said he rarely had enough to eat and was constantly hungry. “Sometimes you’d get their leftovers. You knew it was leftovers because it was just scraped on a plate.”

Mr Hughes met others working for Connors and his associates, including boys as young as 16.

“Sometimes they’d make you fight, for their own sport,” Mr Hughes said. “They’d just be standing and laughing, saying, ‘Oh, look at my dosser, he’s better than your dosser,’ and that guy would get a kicking or else get pushed back in, to have another go.”

One time, after years in captivity, Mr Hughes sneaked out at night in a bid to escape and hitchhiked back to Aberdeen. However, his captors tracked him down to the dole office, overpowered him and drove him back to Wales.

He described being shown no mercy, having to work even when he was severely injured or ill. One time, he had to work even though he was on crutches after being hit by a car and spending five days in hospital with a broken leg and smashed ankle.

(Image: Wales News Service Ltd.)

Mr Hughes thought his situation was improving when Connors moved him into a house under renovation. He started a relationship with a local woman, who became pregnant with his child. However, he was unable to reveal he was a slave for fear of reprisals, and eventually the long days and secrecy took their toll on the couple.

“When she left I tried to kill myself. I took an overdose of tablets and I drank whisky. I phoned the ambulance myself; they found me writhing in the lobby.”

'He broke down'

In December 2013, Mr Hughes was arrested as part of a trading standards investigation into the Connors family business. Acting on tip-offs from other slaves, detectives from Gwent Police’s anti-slavery unit, Operation Imperial, interviewed Mr Hughes.

“We said, ‘We’re here not because you’re a suspect but because we care about you, and we’re worried you’re a victim,’ ” said Gwent’s Chief Superintendent Paul Griffiths, the lead investigator on Operation Imperial. “He’s a tough character, but he broke down.”

Over the following months, Mr Hughes met police secretly, recording interviews to build the case against his captors.

(Image: Wales News Service Ltd.)

“Michael was what we call an ‘alpha slave’. He would be taken to a place to do work, and be given other victims as part of his team,” said Chief Supt Griffiths.

Mr Hughes had another name for his role. “They used to call me ‘king of the dossers’,” he said.

Mr Hughes said he felt relief when the men were sentenced but he is still scarred by his years in captivity.

“It’s wrecked every relationship I’ve ever had. I feel like some days there’s no point in living,” he said.

“I know the trial is over, but there’s still the paranoia of me looking over my shoulder thinking, ‘Do they know me? Have I seen them before?’ I’ll probably have that fear all my life.”