The BBC reported last week that Leicester Crown Court heard how Joseph Rooney of Washingborough, Lincolnshire, targeted victims who were homeless or alcoholics to work in the family driveway resurfacing business, with workers kept in squalor, fed on scraps and forced to work for £10 a day.

Rooney was convicted on one count of conspiracy to require persons to perform forced or compulsory labour and two counts of causing actually bodily harm in relation to offences that took place between 2010 and 2014.

A 55-year-old homeless man, who was living in a tent in Lincoln, had told the court how Rooney had approached him and offered to take him for a bath at the traveller site, on the outskirts of Lincoln.

But after two weeks the man said he tried to escape and return to his tent but was caught by Rooney and members of his family two miles away, adding he was too scared to make any further attempts to escape after he witnessed another man being beaten for the same thing.

However, Rooney claimed that anyone “was free to leave at anytime”.

Asked about living conditions, he told the court: “You’re not coming to Buckingham Palace – life is very hard for everyone.”

The court also heard how Rooney did “not like to see food wasted” and shared leftover pizza or takeaways with anyone who wanted it.

The case formed part of Lincolnshire Police’s Operation Pottery, while 11 other members of Rooney’s family were convicted in September.

The 10 men and one woman were all involved in the family driveway business, which kept workers in caravans without running water or toilet facilities.

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