MEMBERS of the travelling community will be staging a protest in London after four members of the same family were jailed for 27 years for their parts in treating two vulnerable men as ‘slaves’.

Thousands of travellers from Gwent, Sweden, Ireland and the UK are expected to take part in the protest on Tuesday, which will start at Battersea Park. This follows on from a protest in which 100 people picketed outside Cardiff Crown Court against the sentences handed to the Connors family last month.

Patrick Joseph Connors, 59, and his 39-year-old son Patrick Dean Connors, 39, both of Greenway Road, Rumney, Cardiff, as well as William Connors, 36, of Trowbridge Green, Cardiff, and Lee Christopher Carbis, 34, of Witla Court Road, Rumney, were all jailed for their part in the offences.

Libby Connors is the daughter, sister, cousin and sister-in-law of the four men convicted, respectively. She said there should be a few thousand people taking part in the peaceful protest next week.

She said: “The sole purpose is to show support for our family who have been wrongly convicted and also to represent traveller’s rights.

“We have Bobby Gunn from America supporting our cause. It’s going to be a huge turnout.”

An online petition which was started to ‘free the Connors family’ gathered nearly 1,000 signatures but Ms Connors said they started another one when it was closed down.The second online petition has more than 200 signatures so far but Ms Connors estimates they are likely thousands more, with signatures collected by hand from all across the country.

A Facebook page ‘Free the Connors Family’ has more than 12,000 members.

The three Connors were found guilty of requiring another to perform forced labour from April 2010 to January 2013.

Patrick Joseph Connors, the head of the family, was also convicted of eight counts of actual bodily harm, four of kidnapping and one of conspiracy to kidnap while. His son was found guilty of one count of kidnapping.

Carbis was cleared of the forced labour charge but convicted of kidnapping. The forced labour charge related to Michael Hughes, a 46-year-old man, who said he was treated like a ‘slave.’ The charges also related to a second victim, Mr K, aged 41, who cannot be named for legal reasons.