Husband and wife jailed for brutality

A husband and wife who “brutally manipulated and exploited” destitute men by forcing them into servitude have been jailed for 11 years and four years respectively.

James John, aged 34, and Josie Connors, aged 31, who are both members of a Traveller family, were convicted of controlling, exploiting and abusing the men for financial gain at a caravan site near Leighton Buzzard in England.

Sentencing them at Luton Crown Court, Judge Michael Kay 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.