A GANG made a "family business" out of slavery trafficked homeless people from central Europe into the UK and bought and sold them for as little as £200, a court heard.

They were forced to sleep in cellars and crammed into shared rooms, put out to work and received a fraction of the pay they earned as they were not allowed control over their bank accounts, the court was told.

Teesside Crown Court has heard how members of the Rafael family applied for benefits in the names of their victims after arranging national insurance numbers, and kept the money themselves.

John Elvidge QC, prosecuting, said: "The defendants were running a family business and the business was slavery.

"Each defendant knew what was going on and each played a part in it."

The jury has heard that vulnerable victims were picked up from Slovakia and the Czech Republic and offered flights to the UK and work, but were then enslaved.

Their lack of English and any documentation, as well as little access to money, effectively trapped them, the court heard.

The Rafael family are from a Romany community in Slovakia which has its own dialect, the court heard.

Seven defendants, six of whom can be named, deny conspiracy to traffic with a view to exploitation, forced labour and money laundering.

Alleged victims, who cannot be identified by the media, include a homeless Slovakian father and his son who has learning difficulties.

A man named Josef approached them and invited them to travel to the UK "with the promise of work and good money", Mr Elvidge said.

They accepted, flew to London, were taken to Peterborough for a fortnight before they were brought to Newcastle where they met members of the Rafael family, the court heard.

The father and son were told they "now belonged to them and had been bought".

Mr Elvidge said: "(The father) felt humiliated, he felt like he had been treated like a dog.

"He didn't know how much was paid, he subsequently found the going rate was £200-£300 depending on their abilities."

They were taken to a house in Newcastle's West End and told they could go no further than its back yard as there were "Pakistani men with machetes" in the streets and police who would detain them as they had no paperwork, the jury was told.

The father and son were sent to clean houses but were not paid before other work was found, the trial heard.

One job involved pulling springs from old mattresses for the scrap metal, which made the son ill.

They were taken to a bank to open an account, wages were paid in but they were not allowed control over the money or to see documents, the court was told.

They escaped and spent a week sleeping on benches at Manchester Airport where police noted their unkempt appearance, Mr Elvidge said.

Without money, they reluctantly returned to the Rafaels after begging for the bus fare back to Newcastle.

The men were reportedly warned they would be "slaughtered and thrown in the sea" and told: "This is an island, you will not escape from here."

They were confined to a bedroom for a month and saw that other slaves had bruised faces, Mr Elvidge said.

They were told they had to pay Marian Rafael the £300 he had paid for them, he added.

"(The son) worked long hours and was given a pittance in return," the prosecution said.

There was a plan to marry them to Africans so the women could remain in the UK, the court was told.

The father was allowed to return to Slovakia and he hoped his son would be allowed to come too, but that did not happen, the jury heard.

The father told police in Slovakia about the alleged slavery and after a year or so, his son was sent home penniless.

Mr Elvidge said: "He arrived with no money or possessions other than the clothes he was wearing."

The defendants who can be identified are all from Newcastle.

They are Angelica Chec, 29, formerly of Farndale Road; Juraj Rafael, 38, of Bilbrough Gardens; Marianne Rafaelova, 34, of Bilbrough Gardens; Ruzena Rafaelova, 37, formerly of Brighton Grove; Ruzena Rafaelova, 57, formerly of Strathmore Crescent; Stefan Rafael, 62, formerly of Strathmore Crescent.

Roman Rafael, 33, and Marian Rafael, 39, have pleaded guilty.

The media was previously unable to report the case for legal reasons.

The trial continues.