A MAN accused of enslaving two people to work for nothing at an Oxford traveller's site told jurors the men were paid for their efforts and he was their 'friend.'

Michael Joyce, 60, of Redbridge Hollow, denies five modern slavery charges relating to forced labour and exploitation of two men between April 1, 2016 and January 30, 2018.

Kim Preston, outlining the case at the start of his retrial at Oxford Crown Court earlier this month, said the ‘vulnerable’ men had been ‘groomed’ by Joyce who took advantage of mental illnesses and drug use.

Prosecutors claim he made them carry out work, including building a pub at the back of his home, for little or nothing.

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As the trial continued yesterday Joyce took to the witness box to profess his innocence.

Asked if he had 'forced' the two men to work for free the married father-of-five told jurors: "It's a fantasy.

"It never happened, it's just a fantasy. I paid them for the work they did and I brought them home.

"As far as I'm concerned we became friends during the time they helped me."

He said that the two alleged victims had been asked to work at the Redbridge Hollow site through a mutual friend in the Berinsfield area.

Joyce claimed that he struck a deal with both of them and that they were each paid between £40 and £50 a day.

He added that they were fed meals during their shifts working on site and were both picked up and dropped off when they were finished.

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The work they were completing, he told jurors, was in part helping to construct what he termed a 'man's cave'.

He said that the construction was designed to provide a place for family celebrations such as birthdays, Halloween, and Christmas gatherings but said it was not built as a real pub.

He added that he was 'pleased' with the construction which included a jukebox, one functioning beer pump, and an old cigarette machine.

Prosecutors also claim that Joyce or his sons would pick up and drop off the alleged victims and exacerbated their use of heroin and crack cocaine by taking them to collect methadone prescriptions or drugs.

One of the men - Paul West - said his drug taking ‘spiralled out of control’ until he was fully addicted, jurors were told earlier in the trial.

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From the witness box yesterday Joyce said he had not taken the men to buy drugs. Answering allegations he made threats towards Mr West he said: "I have never threatened him or done anything to him or said anything."

Asked if he had regularly used a homosexual epithet to 'insult' one of the men he denied this and said: "I am a traveller and I have been discriminated all my life and for me to do that to someone else I would never."

The trial continues.