Irish traveller family found guilty of forcing men into servitude

Five members of an Irish traveller family have been found guilty by an English court of forcing destitute men into servitude.

The trial heard that their victims were often homeless drifters or addicts, who were forced to live in squalid caravans on traveller sites where they were controlled by violence. Some worked for the family for decades.

William Connors, 52, his wife Mary, 48, their sons John, 29, and James, 20, and their son-in-law Miles Connors, 24, were all convicted of conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour between April 2010 and March 2011.

A jury at Bristol Crown Court found them guilty following a three-month trial.

There was uproar from relatives in the public gallery as they were convicted.

They are due to be sentenced next week.