Five members of the same family have been found guilty of forced labour in the UK.
William Connors, 52, his wife Mary, 48, their sons John, 29, and James, 20, and son-in-law Miles Connors, 24, who are all members of the traveller community were 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 in the UK found the Connors family guilty following a three-month trial.
They had also faced a second charge of conspiracy to hold another person in servitude but the trial judge ordered the jury to find the defendants not guilty of that offence.
The prosecution was brought under Section 71 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 and carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
During the trial, the court heard that the Connors would pick up the 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.
Their work was monotonous, arduous and unrelenting, and they were controlled by discipline and violence.
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.
On another occasion one worker had a hosepipe shoved down his throat and the men were often made to strip for a "hosing down session" with freezing water.
"It caused fear in the men," said prosecutor Christopher Quinlan QC.
"Not just themselves being assaulted, but to see the others - if you see one of your colleagues being beaten, you knew what to expect.
The court heard the men were paid as little as £5 for a day's hard labour on jobs that would earn the family several thousands pounds.
They were given so little food they resorted to scavenging from dustbins at supermarkets for something to eat.
The men also salvaged clothing from bins and used a bucket or woodland as a toilet.
The introduction of the Coroners and Justice Act in April 2010 created offences of conspiracy to hold another person in servitude and conspiracy to require a person to carry out forced or compulsory labour.
The Connors were placed under covert surveillance in August 2010 and police recorded evidence of the men being assaulted.
The enterprise came to an end when police raided sites in Staverton, Enderby and Mansfield in Nottinghamshire on 22 March, 2011 and police rescued 19 men from the sites.
