Victim ‘tied up naked, fed dog food and urinated on’

● ‘Slavery’ trial hears of beating after he ran away

A man was tied up naked in a shed for two days and told to eat dog food after fleeing from a member of a traveller family he was working for, a court heard.

John Anderson said his alleged ordeal also had him screaming for his life after a young boy was ordered to light his petrol-soaked body.

Jurors heard claims the 43-year-old had earlier escaped from James Mcphee and left Scotland for Oxfordshire.

But he was found and returned north where he was then allegedly battered and “taught a lesson” by Mcphee’s father Robert.

Mr Anderson said he was later dumped in the metal shed – where children also apparently came in and urinated on him.

He was yesterday giving evidence at the trial of James Mcphee, 45, Robert Mcphee, 65, Steven Mcphee, 37, and John Miller, 38.

The four face a total of 30 charges between them at the High Court in Glasgow.

The accusations – which span the period between 1992 and 2016 – include slavery and violence. The four deny the allegations.

Mr Anderson had been homeless in 1998 when he was offered labouring work by James Mcphee. He stayed on a caravan site and carried out jobs such as mono-blocking driveways.

But the man told how Mcphee could be violent towards him “whenever he was unhappy”. The alleged assaults including being punched, kicked and hit with a pick axe handle.

Mr Anderson said he was “scared” to leave but went with another worker to a house in Paisley, Renfrewshire.

The trial heard James and his brother Steven Mcphee found him despite trying to hide in a wardrobe. He was taken to a site in Bathgate, West Lothian.

Mr Anderson later left again – this time with a fellow worker heading for England. The men managed to “skip” a train without paying to Berwick before they got a lift from a trucker to Oxfordshire.

Mr Anderson initially got a barman’s job but then got a word that someone had come to the house where he had been staying.

Mr Anderson said he was “scared” as James Mcphee drove him to Larkhall, Lanarkshire, where he said he was beaten by Robert Mcphee.

He said he was punched “all over”, hit with a broom and kicked.

The trial continues.