DUBLIN — Five members of an Irish family who enjoyed lavish lifestyles from the proceeds of forced labor were jailed in England on Wednesday after a three-month trial.
Bristol Crown Court heard harrowing details of how the family enticed mentally ill, alcoholic and homeless men to work in their paving and patio business based in Bedford, England, for as little as $8 a day. They kept the men in filthy trailers and forced them to perform menial tasks like cleaning the family’s toilets. At times, the men were so hungry they resorted to scavenging for food in supermarket garbage and were subjected to threats and beatings if they tried to leave.
Some had worked in such circumstances for two decades. However, the judge ordered the jury to drop a second charge of conspiracy to hold a person in servitude.
William Connors, 52, was sentenced to six and a half years, and his wife, Mary, 48, was sentenced to two years and three months. One of their sons, John, 29, received four years, and another son, James, 20, was sent to a juvenile detention center for three years. A son-in-law, Miles Connors, 24, was given a three-year prison sentence.
The court heard testimony that the Connors family had made a fortune from the proceeds of their crimes. They drove expensive cars and went on luxury vacations. Some of the family lived in houses worth millions, had millions in bank accounts and owned several properties in Ireland. These are now subject to possible seizure as criminal assets.
The police began investigating the family after the body of one of their workers, Christopher Nicholls, 40, was discovered in 2008. They were placed under surveillance in August 2010, and evidence was recorded of men being assaulted. In April 2010, the Coroners and Justice Act was introduced, making it an offense to conspire to hold someone in servitude and require that individual to carry out forced or compulsory labor.
After sentencing, the officer who had led the investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Dave Sellwood, described the Connors family as “greedy, arrogant people” who preyed on the weak.
“This was a criminal enterprise from beginning to end,” he told RTE, the Irish national broadcaster. “They picked up vulnerable people, they offered them a new life and hope when they didn’t have any, and then they dashed that.”
The family maintained that the men were “free agents” able to come and go as they pleased. The family said they had acted as “good Samaritans” by providing them with food, work and housing.
Family Is Jailed in England Over Forced Labor
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Family Is Jailed in England Over Forced Labor
