Head of family convicted of slavery ordered to pay £232,000

The head of an Irish Traveller family convicted of slavery has been ordered to pay over a quarter of a million pounds.

Tommy Connors snr (54) must pay £232,752 (€286,100) within six months or face three more years in jail.

At Luton crown court, Judge Michael Kay QC also ordered Connors to pay £43,000 and £15,000 to two men who were held prisoner on their site at Greenacres in Bedfordshire.

In May last year Connors, known as Lyncham, was jailed for eight years. He was said to have driven the workers he recruited like slaves and made huge amounts of money.

Judge Kay told him he had targeted victims who were homeless, addicted and isolated. The men were recruited at soup kitchens and off the street, with the promise of paid work, food and lodgings. They would do back-breaking block-paving work and laying tarmac and gravel, but were not paid and, with the constant threat of violence, not allowed to leave.

Their heads were shaved and food was basic. “It was a monstrous and callous deceit,” the judge told Connors.

Confiscation hearings against other members of the Connors family have been adjourned until October 8th.