'The way you brutally manipulated and exploited them is pure evil': Judge jails traveller couple who kept vulnerable men as slaves



Cousins James John, 34, and Josie Connors, 31, jailed for 11 and four years

Judge: 'They were not Good Samaritans but violent, cold, hard exploiters'

Four Connors family members found guilty of controlling and abusing men

Police believe they made millions in block-paving and scrap-metal businesses



Victims were made to work for 19 hours a day for little or no money

They slept in horse boxes and caravans on Greenacres site in Bedfordshire



Workers had broken ribs, scars and wounds, and one even had scurvy

Jury fails to agree verdicts on charges against other family members

They will face a retrial next year and have been remanded in custody



A husband and wife who 'brutally manipulated and exploited' destitute men by forcing them into servitude were today jailed for 11 years and four years respectively.

James John, 34, and Josie Connors, 31, who are cousins, were convicted of controlling, exploiting and abusing the men for financial gain at a caravan site near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire.

Sentencing them at Luton Crown Court, Judge Michael Kay QC said: 'The way they brutally manipulated and exploited men is pure evil. It is at odds with the moral code of the religion they profess to hold.

'Their disdain for the dignity of others is shocking. They were not Good Samaritans but violent, cold, hard exploiters.'

'Cold, hard exploiters': James John Connors (left) and wife Josie (right), who are cousins, have been jailed for 11 and four years after being convicted of keeping modern-day slaves at a Bedfordshire caravan site



The pair and two other members of the Connor family were convicted yesterday of keeping ‘modern-day slaves’ in the first case of its kind for more than 200 years.

The couple had both denied two counts of holding a person in servitude and two counts of requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour.

James John, also known as Big Jim, was also convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The prosecution offered no evidence on a battery charge after the jury failed to reach a verdict on it.

Josie's father Tommy Connors Senior, known as Pa, 52, and one of his sons Patrick, 20, were also convicted on Wednesday in relation to holding the men and forcing them to work.

Guilty: Patrick Connors (pictured) was also convicted and given a five-year prison term

They, and two other brothers - Tommy junior, 27, and James, 24 - will face a retrial next year on charges which the jury at Luton crown court could not agree. They were all remanded in custody.

Josie's brother Johnny, 28, walked free from court today after the jury cleared him of conspiracy to hold a person in servitude and the prosecution offered no evidence on a further count of conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour.

During the trial, the jury heard that the complainants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were forced to work in the Connors' block paving business.

The 13-week case trial heard the men were given next to no food, forced to wash in cold water and paid little or no money for working up to 19 hours a day.

One man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described a life of being treated 'like a slave'.

He was recruited in 2004 when John James saw him in a 'distressed state' in a service station, the judge said.

'He was an alcoholic. In three months he was weaned off alcohol. Your purpose was to put him to work.



'After he was rescued by police, he was reluctant to speak about what had happened, his mind had been manipulated.



'Even though he was considerably older than both of you he believed you were his surrogate parents,' Judge Kay added.

'After he had overcome the trauma he spoke more openly. He lived in a caravan with no toilets or washing facilities, he had to go to the toilet in a nearby field. Sometimes the only food available was eggs and bread.'

The man had to work from 5am to around 9pm on driveway work and then had to clean the Connors' caravan to 'an immaculate condition'.

'He said he was beaten and practically starved, he was punched, kicked and hit with a broom handle,' the judge said.

Another man said he felt 'worse than a slave'. He managed to escape and told police the couple took his benefit money from him and forced him to perform hard manual labour for up to 16 hours a day, unpaid.



He was recruited in Wembley and was offered £80 a day for work. 'He received no pay, his personal possessions and documents were taken away.



'Conditions were squalid and at times they were starving. Josie said if he used the toilets in their caravan she would break his arms and legs,' the judge said.

'He said he was being mentally tortured and felt worse than a slave.'

Crime scene: Police found victims had broken bones, scars and fresh wounds when they raided the traveller site (above)

Miniscule: A tiny caravan on the site

In his police interview which was played to the court, he said: 'I didn't like it, but they said I couldn't leave and said if I tried to leave... I would get murdered.'

He described being 'kicked in the nuts' on one occasion and on another day being punched in the eye for not finding any work, forced into the boot of the family's car and ordered to sing How Much Is That Doggie In The Window and Bob The Builder.

The judge dismissed claims that the trial was racism against the Irish traveller community.

He said: 'This is not about racism or the way of life of Irish travellers. It is about a capacity to be inhumane to a fellow human being.'

Police believe the Connors family made millions of pounds by forcing hundreds of vulnerable men to work without pay over three decades.

The men were forced to carry out gruelling manual work for up to 19 hours a day, six days a week, and were often left starving.

The Connors were convicted under new ‘servitude’ legislation, which was introduced two years ago because of the growing problem of exploitation.

Police raided the Green Acres site at Little Billington, near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, last September

The tiny, grubby living quarters of one of the caravans on the Green Acres site near Leighton Buzzard

Homeless men – including a Gulf War veteran and a former priest – were promised comfortable lodgings and paid jobs in the lucrative block-paving and scrap metal businesses run by the Connors. But, once they arrived at various travellers’ sites across Britain, the men were kept in ‘concentration camp’ conditions. The labourers, who had their heads shaved and were given uniforms to mark them out as ‘slaves’, were unable to shower for months at a time and slept in horse boxes. Travellers told them they would be badly beaten or murdered if they tried to escape, it was claimed. Promises of wages never materialised. Detectives believe the true scale of the criminal enterprise was far bigger. They believe hundreds of vulnerable men may have been picked up at soup kitchens, night shelters and job centres by the Connors with the offer of work during the past 30 years. During their captivity the slaves were driven across Britain and over huge swathes of Europe to lay block paving on private driveways. After the initial arrests, the focus of the investigation widened when police forces in Eastern European countries and Russia said they had discovered criminal links to the Connors. Vicious: Josie Connors threatened to break one man's arms and legs if he used the toilet in their caravan The travellers always insisted on being paid in cash for their jobs. One police source admitted that these figures could be the ‘tip of the iceberg’. The case was described in court as the first ‘quasi-slavery trial in this country for over 200 years’, and brings into focus the growing problem of human trafficking and slavery in Britain. Since 2009, the Serious Organised Crime Agency has identified 2,444 potential victims of human trafficking. Of these, 1,177 said they had been victims of labour exploitation or domestic servitude. The United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre said that similar criminal enterprises exploiting workers may be operating at other traveller and gipsy sites. Details of the Connors case emerged after 250 officers from Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Police raided Greenacres Caravan Park in Little Billington, near Leighton Buzzard, in September 2011, after six weeks of surveillance.

After the raid, police faced questions as to why they did not act sooner. The Leighton-Linslade homeless charity said it had been taking in slaves who had escaped from the site since 2007, and had reported each incident.

Police were finally able to make arrests after legislation was introduced in 2010 making slavery, servitude and forced labour a criminal offence.

When police raided the site they rescued 22 men – many of whom were starving, suffering from scurvy, had broken bones and were covered in excrement. Others had scars, fresh wounds and dog bites.

Officers discovered that the traumatised victims were housed in cramped, leaking, smelly sheds and horse boxes shared by up to 11 men. Bedding was washed once every four months and one shed got so cold at night that an aquarium in it froze.

Yards away, their bosses lived in plush chalets. Victims told how they were ordered to forget about their families and should never talk about their past.

Instead they were told to treat the travellers as their new family and should call Tommy Connors Snr ‘Pa’ and his wife Mary ‘Ma’.

The slaves were woken at 5.30 each morning and driven to streets across Britain and Europe where they were forced to perform back-breaking manual work until dusk. They were often used instead of hiring machinery to save money.

In court, prosecutor Frances Oldham QC said: ‘Physical violence and the threat of such violence, whether spoken or unspoken, was regularly used to ensure compliance with demands for work, to stop any attempt to claim the promised wages and to instil a fear of retribution if any worker attempted to escape the clutches of the Connors family.’

The victims might now receive large payouts from the money recovered by the police in lieu of their lost earnings. It is estimated that one man is owed £70,000. Recalling the moment the police raided the site, one victim said: ‘When I looked around at us all, I realised how ill everyone looked – really skinny, dirty and really unwell. It was horrible.’

Seven members of the Connors family were on trial but the jury failed to reach verdicts on charges regarding Tommy Jnr, 27, Johnny, 28, and James, 24, after deliberating for nine days.