MEMBERS of a traveller family were yesterday found not guilty of keeping a man with learning disabilities as a slave.

Jurors at Oxford Crown Court unanimously decided Christopher Joyce and his three children – Mary Joyce, Timothy Joyce Senior and Helen Collins – were not guilty of conspiring to hold Nick Iliff in servitude.

But the jury of seven women and five men unanimously found Christopher Joyce and his daughters guilty of conspiring to defraud Mr Iliff of benefits of more than £100,000.

During the trial, the court was told that Mr Iliff was born with severe learning disabilities which would have made him unable to stand up to people. But Christopher Joyce denied mistreating Mr Iliff and insisted he treated him as he did his other 13 sons and daughters.

Mr Joyce told jurors Mr Iliff first began living with the family at a caravan park in The Slade in Oxford, before the family moved to Redbridge Hollow.

But they denied forcing Mr Iliff, who left the family in February, to carry out menial tasks and manual labour.

Jurors also unanimously found Timothy Joyce Senior not guilty of assault by beating yesterday.

But they could not reach a verdict on whether Mr Joyce and his three children, all of Redbridge Hollow caravan site in Old Abingdon Road, had conspired to require Mr Iliff to perform forced or compulsory labour after 12 hours’ of deliberation.

The jury was discharged and Rachel Drake, prosecuting, said the Crown Prosecution Service would decide whether to seek a retrial by Friday.

Sentencing for the defrauding of benefits will take place at a later date.