FOUR men charged after a series of raids linked to a police investigation into modern slavery and forced labour have made their first appearance at court.

The men were charged this morning after raids at three properties at Redbridge Hollow, off Old Abingdon Road, Oxford, and in Littlemore yesterday and appeared at Oxford Magistrates’ Court this afternoon.

Dressed in plain dark clothing the four men spoke only to confirm their names at the three-hour long hearing.

Michael Joyce, 59, of Redbridge Hollow, is charged with one count of requiring two people to perform compulsory labour, one count of arranging or facilitating travel of two people with a view to exploitation and one count of carrying on a regulated activity when not an authorised/exempt person.

John Joyce, 34, of Redbridge Hollow, is charged with one count of requiring two people to perform forced or compulsory labour and one count of carrying on a regulated activity when not an authorised/exempt person.

Michael Joyce, 26, of Redbridge Hollow is charged with one count of requiring two people to perform forced or compulsory labour, one count of arranging or facilitating travel of two people with a view to exploitation and one count of carrying on a regulated activity when not an authorised/exempt person.

David Boiling, 33, of Northfield Close, Littlemore, is charged with one count of requiring two people to perform forced or compulsory labour, one count of arranging or facilitating travel of two people with a view to exploitation and one count of carrying on a regulating activity when not an authorised/exempt person.

The offences are alleged to have involved two victims.

Deciding if the case should be heard at the lower court or the crown court as each of the offences are either-way matters – meaning they could be heard at either of the two courts – presiding magistrate Anne Pappenheim decided it should be sent straight to the crown court.

She said that the magistrate panel would "decline jurisdiction" in the case after hearing that any possible future sentence in the event of a conviction would be too significant for a magistrate alone to determine.

No formal pleas were entered at the hearing and all of the men have since been remanded in custody to next appear at Oxford Crown Court.

They will appear at the upper court on July 6, and no provisional trial date has yet been set.

The appearance at court today comes after Thames Valley Police officers made a series of arrests in the Oxford area around Old Abingdon Road and in Littlemore.

Police were assisted by the National Crime Agency (NCA), the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) and Oxfordshire County Council as part of the investigation into the alleged offences.