Four travellers held by police after '20 years of forcing vulnerable men to work as slaves'

Four members of a family of travellers accused of forcing homeless people to work like 'slaves' are today behind bars.



William Connors, 50, his wife Breda, 46, their son John, 28, and son in law Miles, 22, are alleged to have threatened and coerced down-and-outs and street drinkers into modern day slavery.

The four were remanded into custody by magistrates in Cheltenham and will appear at crown court next month



All four of them were remanded into custody following a special court hearing on over the weekend when they appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates Court charged with conspiring together and with others to hold people in slavery or servitude between April last year and and March this year.

The family are accused of forcing men to work on laying driveways at addresses throughout the UK.



The 'slaves' were made to dig up driveways using only hand tools and then resurface them with tarmac or block paving, it is alleged.

The charges was brought under a new section introduced last year of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 creating the offence of 'holding another person in slavery or servitude or requiring them to perform forced or compulsory labour.'



Prosecutor Graham Dono told the magistrates that victims of the alleged racket had been made to live in 'virtually uninhabitable' caravans without any facilities while working long hours for no more than £20 a day - and in some cases without any payment at all.

They had been 'kept in slavery and servitude' by violence, threats of violence, withholding of their National Insurance and other documents, debt bondage, and being placed in isolated locations away from contact with other people, he alleged.



Opposing bail for all four defendants he said: 'This is a huge operation with many, many outstanding enquiries still to be done.'

Mr Dono said the police investigation had been sparked off by the death of a man called Christopher Nicholls whose decomposed body was found in March 2008 close to the Beggars Roost Caravan site in Staverton, Glouchestershire.

He had disappeared in 2005.



Police mounted a covert operation in March last year and kept various sites under surveillance, he said.



'The allegation is that the defendants offered accommodation and work to vulnerable homeless individuals then moved them into virtually uninhabitable caravans.

'They then required them to do manual work for excessive hours for payments of no more than £20 a day and in some cases no payment at all.



'They were given minimal amounts of food. Movements are restricted, mobile phones are not allowed and victims are kept in fear of reprisals if they attempt to leave.



'Identity and benefit documents are removed from them for so called safe keeping. We say they were retained by Breda Connors in particular.'



Men would be forced to work for up to 14 hours a day and moved from location to location around the country, he said.



'Many of the victims are homeless alcoholics, the most vulnerable persons in society.'



Mr Dono said police observed 22 alleged slaves living at Beggar's Roost caravan site.

They were sent to work in Worcestershire and the West Midlands tarmacking and block paving driveways.

'It is clear from police videos that the slaves have minimal clothing, they are always dirty and disheveled, they look extremely unhappy and thee is evidence of members of the Connors family at the locations in charge of the workers.'

On March 22nd, said Mr Dono, police raided Beggar's Roost with a search warrant and arrested William and Breda Connors.

A travellers site in Enderby, Leicestershire, was also raided and Miles Connors was arrested there while eight alleged vicitms were found.

A site in Common Lane, Pleasley, Derby, was raided at the same time and John Connors was arrested and seven victims discovered.

An address in Stanway road, Coney Hill, Gloucester, was searched by police and documentary evidence was seized.

Mr Dono said it was alleged that the caravans in which victims were kept had no running water, minimal heating, haphazard and dangerous cooking facilities, and no proper washing facilities.



Victims who had tried to leave sites had been tracked down and returned by members of the Connors family, he alleged,.



'These victims are extremely vulnerable and are now in a safe house. We say some of them have been indoctrinated for as much as 20 years working in this way, They are people who are clearly fearful.'

'Twenty victims have so far been recovered from the Connors family but inquiries are at an early stage and it is expected there will be more.

'Some of them have allegedly been exploited and beaten for years and they have described their living conditions as appalling.'

Two women magistrates heard applications for bail from lawyers representing each of the four defendants but refused them and remanded all four in custody to appear at Gloucester Crown Court on April 6th.

