Connors family servitude trial: Jury considers verdict

The jury has gone out in the retrial of four members of a traveller family accused of keeping vulnerable men captive to work unpaid.

Tommy Connors Sr, 53, Tommy Jr, 27, James, 25 and Patrick, 21, deny charges of keeping the men in servitude.

Luton Crown Court heard homeless men were given accommodation but threatened with violence if they asked for wages.

They worked laying block paving but the Bedfordshire family said they were free to come and go at will at any time.

The four were charged with three counts of conspiracy to hold a person in servitude and three of conspiracy to require a person to perform forced labour.

Mr Connors Sr, following legal submissions, was formally acquitted of one charge of conspiracy to hold a person in servitude and one charge of conspiracy to require a person to perform forced labour.