‘Living hell’ created by this Irish slavery gang
Travellers jailed for a combined total of 80 years
NINE members of an Irish Traveller family based in Britain have been jailed for almost 80 years between them for running a ‘truly shocking’ modern slavery ring.
They scoured the UK targeting homeless people and those with drug, alcohol and mental health issues, promising them well-paid jobs, food and accommodation.
But once their victims agreed to sign up they were trafficked to Traveller sites and ‘completely exploited’ – housed in dilapidated caravans and stables with no heating, water or toilet facilities, and made to work 12-hour days in all weathers, tarmacking and paving driveways.
Married couple Martin Rooney Sr and his wife Bridget were the ‘matriarch and patriarch’ of the family, and could have stopped the exploitation if they had wanted, a court heard. And yesterday the pair were locked up along with sons Patrick and John, who are identical twins, and Martin Jr. Martin Sr was jailed for ten years and nine months.
Other members of the Rooney family were jailed for terms ranging from 15 to six years, while two received suspended sentences.
The court heard one man was beaten by a ‘Rooney lynch mob’ armed with a shovel and left injured in a caravan for days because he returned a car with no petrol.
Many victims had to use rudimentary toilets in woods and fields, in complete contrast to the Rooneys’ expensively fittedout homes nearby, which a judge said were ‘palatial by comparison’ and ‘akin to the gulf between medieval royalty and peasantry’. Astonishingly, police believe one man was held for around 26 years.
His relatives said he was psychologically damaged by his ordeal, during which he was smashed in the teeth with a concrete slab and forced to dig his own grave. Another victim described his own captivity as a ‘living hell’.
The Rooneys, who were based on Traveller sites at Drinsey Nook and Washing borough, Lincolnshire, used threats, violence, and drugs and alcohol to control the men, who were denied medical attention and often only fed on
‘You preyed on men who had fallen on hard times’
the family’s leftovers.
In total, 11 members of the extended family were convicted of a series of crimes dating back over a decade, including conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, conspiracy to defraud, actual bodily harm, and unlawful wounding.
Nine received jail terms totalling 79 years and seven months, with two being handed suspended sentences. The charges covered 18 victims aged between 18 and 63.
The family profited by more than £1.5million from the exploitation, with detectives saying it illegally funded a lavish lifestyle – including holidays in Barbados and Mexico, sports cars, cosmetic surgery in the form of breast enlargements, spa days, and a place at a Manchester United course.
They were convicted in a series of trials beginning in November last year. The ten men and one woman were sentenced over a four-day period. Judge Timothy Spencer told the defendants: ‘You preyed upon men who, for a variety of reasons, had fallen on hard times. ‘Men who had become homeless, alcoholic, men with mental health problems. Sometimes a combination of all three. Men who were vulnerable and easy to manipulate.
‘You delude yourselves by suggesting the life you offered was better than life on the streets. You deprived these men of the ability to exercise the freedom to make their own choices.
‘None of the men, in my judgement, were ever truly free to leave at all. Often these men were picked up off the streets. You would drive around and find people in the locality of hostels and night shelters, or those simply sleeping rough.’