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(Image: INS)

Travellers who forced a vulnerable "slave" to work for them for free for two years, stole nearly £21,000 from him to fund holidays in Mexico and beat him up mercilessly when he stole their car to escape.

Couple Paul Joyce and Helen Cash lured Daniel Collins to their traveller site and forced him to complete manual labour and leafletting jobs without paying him.

The pair also convinced the 27-year-old to hand over his bank details so they could claim his benefits and, when he tried to escape, they tracked him down and Joyce punched him in the head and stomach.

They splashed his cash on a holiday in Mexico and spent more on tanning studios, hair salons and groceries.

The couple were finally caught out when Collins was reported missing and police found him at Redbourn travellers site in Hertfordshire, where he persuaded them to pretend to arrest him.

Prosecuting, Rachel Drake said: "Daniel Collins was reported missing by Oxford Night Shelter on November 28 2013.

"He was located and he agreed to go with the police if they gave the impression he was being arrested.

(Image: INS)

"He gave an account of his time spent on traveller sites.

"He was compelled to work without pay, prevented from leaving and forced to shoplift and steal."

The court heard "simple" Mr Collins met the couple when he was thrown out of his uncle's home and went to visit a friend in Oxford.

He was introduced to Joyce's brother, Michael, and taken to a travellers site in Hertfordshire, where he was provided with space in a caravan.

Ms Drake said: "He completed work, labour and leafletting, and was provided with lunch and a hot meal in the evening.

"He never received cash but was given cigarettes.

"He was told by Paul Joyce and Helen Cash that he would have to shoplift with them.

"He was reluctant to do so but having heard Michael Joyce talk about the fact he had a gun, he thought he was at risk."

The court heard shoplifting became a regular occurrence, which led to Collins getting caught taking a television from a supermarket.

Ms Drake said: "He declined to name the person he was with.

"It appears he was frightened to name who he was with."

The couple moved back to Redbridge Hollow in Oxford in summer 2012, before Mr Collins managed to escape to his sister's house.

However, Helen Cash tracked him down and persuaded him to return to the site.

Ms Drake said: "In November 2012, Mr Collins escaped. He stole a car from the Joyces and drove to London.

"He was arrested and bailed.

"The defendants found out where he was.

"Paul Joyce punched him repeatedly in the head and stomach and he was escorted back to the Redbridge site, where the forced labour continued.

"The Crown says that labour expanded from leafletting and manual labour to cover the theft of horseboxes and tyres at night."

The court heard Mr Collins escaped again in September 2013 and began sleeping rough before seeking help at the hostel.

But he was spotted from a van by Michael Joyce, who brought him back to the site.

The vulnerable victim also handed over his bank details and birth certificate, which the couple used to to withdraw wads of cash from his account while on holiday in Cancun in Mexico.

They also purchased items in duty free and spent money on tanning studios, hair salons and groceries.

Joyce and his wife claimed Mr Collins' Employment Support Allowance, while Ifran Iqbal took his housing benefit over a period of two years.

Cash forced him to convince a doctor he could not work and needed benefits because he was hearing voices and seeing people who did not exist.

The mother-of-three, wearing a grey jumper and with her blonde hair scraped back in a ponytail, sat next to her bearded husband in the dock.

They stared straight ahead as they listened to proceedings.

The victim lost £20,952 altogether, including lost wages.

Cash, aged 31 years, of Redbridge Hollow in Abingdon Road, Oxford, admitted three counts of fraud and one count of substantive forced labour.

Paul Joyce, aged 33 years and of the same address, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud, one count of common assault and two counts of substantive labour, while his 25-year-old brother admitted one count of substantive labour.

Iqbal, aged 29 years, of Millfield Walk in Hemel Hempstead, admitted one count of fraud.

The offences took place in Oxford and Hemel Hemsptead, Herts., between January 2012 and December 2013.

All four defendants had been before the courts in the past.

Joyce and Cash have three children, aged four, 10 and 11 years, who were being looked after by their grandmother who cannot read or write.

Judge Ian Pringle QC jailed Paul Joyce for 34 months, while Cash and Michael Joyce were handed two year sentences suspended for two years.

Iqbal was given a one year community order and 120 hours of unpaid work.

Cash breathed a sigh of relief and she and Michael Joyce thanked the judge as their sentences were passed.

Judge Pringle told them: "At the beginning of 2012, Daniel Collins had to leave his uncle's property.

"He is an individual who struggles with life and making decisions, and so obviously a vulnerable person, but he was picked up by you as someone you could exploit.

"You Michael Joyce, promised him work and accommodation and food and passed him to your brother.

"You Paul Joyce along with your wife Helen Cash were instrumental in exploiting Daniel Collins over a period of nearly two years altogther.

"You made him work for free, leafletting, and painting the house of Iqbal who received his housing benefit.

"You got Daniel Collins, Paul Joyce and Helen Cash, to pass his bank details to you.

"You had access to his bank acocunt.

"You got him to claim for benefits and kept them for yourselves.

"You will say he got meals and had a roof over his head. So what?

"You treated him as if he were a servant and you forced him to work for you for free.

"It is staggering to think that in 2015 that sort of behaviour is committed in this country but in this case it was.

"He tried to escape and when he took your car, you decided to beat him for it and beat him badly you did.

"These are serious offences and I would be failing in my duty were I not to pass serious sentences."