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| Connors family servitude retrial: Jury discharged | Connors family servitude retrial: Jury discharged |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The case against four members of a Bedfordshire traveller family accused of keeping vulnerable men captive to work unpaid has collapsed. | |
| Tommy Connors Sr, 53, and his sons Tommy Jr, 27, James, 25 and Patrick, 21, had denied keeping the men in servitude. | |
| A jury at Luton Crown Court failed to reach a verdict on any of the charges against them. | |
| The Crown Prosecution Service is considering if there will be a retrial. | |
| The jury in the case had been deliberating for more than two days. | |
| Judge Michael Kay told them: "The time has now come that I must discharge you on the basis that you have been trying for almost three days. Thank you for your efforts." | |
| The court had heard homeless men were given accommodation at the Green Acres site at Little Billington, near Leighton Buzzard. | |
| The jury heard they worked laying block paving but were threatened with violence if they asked for wages. | |
| The family said the men were free to come and go at any time. |