A man kept as a slave for nearly 26 years and forced to work for a family’s driveway business has successfully sued the government for £352,000 for denying him adequate compensation.
The vulnerable man, referred to as Victim A, was beaten, given scraps of leftover food and forced to live in filthy conditions in a caravan on a travellers’ site in Lincolnshire by his captors, the Rooney family.
The 11-member gang exploited a number of victims, who were often homeless people or men with learning disabilities, a 2017 trial at Nottingham Crown Court heard.
Victim A, who was in his fifties, waited so long for compensation that his captors have now been released from prison.
The Rooneys amassed a £4million fortune from their driveway business, and were ordered at a Proceeds of Crime hearing in 2019 to pay just £1million if it back, mostly to their victims.
But the court offered Victim A just £12,428 under the Proceeds of Crime Act, leading his family to sue the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), an agency of the Ministry of Justice.
Seven years on, the man has successfully received £352,000 in government compensation, which his sister said will pay for round-the-clock care for her ‘lovely’ brother.
Fifteen other men held as slaves alongside Victim A passed away before they could claim the same level of compensation. One of the labourers ended up dying without the knowledge of his family, who later discovered they had missed his funeral.
Victim A’s sister said the lack of initial compensation meant her vulnerable brother could not pay for rehabilitation for injuries inflicted by his captors.
The 11 gang members, who were convicted of fraud and slavery charges, enjoyed holidays to Barbados, cosmetic surgery and even shelled out on a Manchester United soccer school – earned off the backs of their workers.
The slaves, aged 18 to 63, were freed after raids by Lincolnshire Police and the National Crime Agency were carried out in 2014.
Some gang members also targeted four elderly home-owners, getting them to sign over properties into their names and selling three on for profit – one for £250,000.
Members of the Rooney family would go looking for victims on the streets, hostels and shelters, offering work for food and accommodation.
Martin Rooney Senior and Bridget Rooney were described as the ‘patriarch and the matriarch’ of the enterprise.
Labourers were forced to live in shabby run-down caravans, or in stables next to kennels, with little or no access to basics such as heating, water and toilets.
Some were forced to squat in woods behind their living areas, while electricity was ‘dangerously’ tapped from a nearby pylon.
In all, 18 men were forced to work at the sites or for the Rooneys’ businesses, repairing properties and tarmacking drives.
The police said victims were also ‘poorly fed’ and often went hungry – or were given the ‘family’s left-overs’, even though they were worked for hours on hard, manual tasks.
For the convicted gang-members, there were luxurious holidays to , Egypt and Mexico, high-performance BMWs, spa days and cosmetic surgery.
Lawyers said the CICA was ‘not fit for purpose’ after most of the men held captive died before they could claim adequate compensation.
Solicitor Jamila Duncan-Bosu, from the Anti-trafficking and Exploitation Unit charity, said: ‘CICA is not fit for purpose when it comes to victims of modern day slavery, despite it being incredibly common.
‘Compensation is paramount for victims of trafficking, for rehabilitation and to help them rebuild their lives, to stop that cycle of exploitation.’
has contacted the Ministry of Justice for comment.
One victim was kept a ‘captive’ by members of the Rooney family on a Lincolnshire traveller site and forced to work 12-hour days, seven-days-a-week for 26 years.
In an emotional account of his life, the man’s sister told how he was beaten with a rake when he overslept, had his teeth smashed with a concrete slab and had been left ‘psychologically damaged’ by his dreadful ordeal.
Telling of her brother’s ordeal at the gang’s hands, the victim’s sister said: ‘He was asked to sign a contract by John Rooney – a contract would have been out of his understanding.
‘And John Rooney said to him, ‘you’re going to work for me for the rest of your life’.
‘My brother replied ‘oh, I don’t know about that’. Prior to that conversation, John Rooney had actually made him dig a hole.
‘And my brother said to him ”how much further do you want me to dig down?”
‘And he (John) said ‘keep digging’ and at the end of the conversation said to him ”if you don’t sign this contract, that’s where you’re going, in that hole”.
‘We think he was captured for up to 26 years.’
John Rooney, of Saxilby – Conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, Conspiracy to defraud, Fraud by false representation, Theft (two counts).
Patrick Rooney, of Saxilby – Conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, Fraud by abuse of position, Assault occasioning actual bodily harm, Theft (two counts).
Bridget Rooney, of Saxilby – Conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour
Martin Rooney, of Beaconsfield – Conspiracy to defraud, Converting criminal property (two counts)
Martin Rooney, of Saxilby – Conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, Unlawful wounding
Martin Rooney, of Saxilby – Conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour, Assault occasioning actual bodily harm
Patrick Rooney, of Beaconsfield – Converting criminal property
John Rooney, of Pontefract – Conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour (two counts)
Peter Doran, of Lincoln – Conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour
Gerard Rooney, of Lincoln – Conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour
Lawrence Rooney – Conspiracy to require a person to perform forced or compulsory labour