Five members of a traveller family have been jailed for a total of 18 years after being found guilty of forcing vulnerable men to work for them.
The Connors family enjoyed top-of-the-range cars and expensive holidays. But to live the high life, they picked up men - often homeless drifters or addicts - to work for them as labourers.
The victims lived in squalid caravans on traveller sites as they moved around the country working on the Connors' paving and patio businesses.
Some were also ordered to perform humiliating tasks, such as emptying the buckets used as toilets by their bosses.
James and Miles Connors William Connors, 52, was jailed for six and a half years and his wife Mary, 48, received a sentence of two years and three months.
The couple's son, John, 29, was jailed for four years. Their other son James, 20, got three years detention in a young offender institution. Son-in-law Miles Connors, 24, received a three year prison sentence.
They were all convicted last week at Bristol Crown Court of conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour between April 2010 and March 2011 following a three-month trial.
Some of the men - called "dossers" by the Connors - had worked for the family for nearly two decades.
Many were beaten, hit with broom handles, belts, a rake and shovel, and punched and kicked by the Connors.
John Connors The men were paid as little as £5 for a day's hard labour on jobs which would earn the family several thousands pounds.
They were given so little food that they resorted to scavenging from rubbish bins at supermarkets.
In contrast, the Connors lived in large and well-appointed caravans fitted with luxury kitchens and flat-screen televisions.
William and Mary, known as Billy and Brida, enjoyed exotic holidays, including Dubai and a 10-day cruise around the Caribbean on the Cunard flagship liner Queen Mary 2.
The family also spent the spoils of their enterprise on breaks to Tenerife and Cancun in Mexico.
As well as holidays, they drove around in top-of-the-range cars, including a silver A-Class Mercedes saloon, a Rolls-Royce, a red Mini convertible, a Toyota Hilux pick-up, a Ford Ranger and a Mercedes van, and had built up a mounting property portfolio potentially now worth millions of pounds.
Passing sentence, Judge Longman said: "What each of the workers had in common was that, when they first met the Connors, they were unemployed and addicted to alcohol.
"Most were homeless, relying on hostels or night shelters at best for their accommodation. Some suffered from mental health difficulties.
"All were vulnerable in some way and it was this vulnerability which was exploited by the defendants for their own commercial gain."
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