A FARM owner has been jailed for four and a half years for forcing a "vulnerable" Kidderminster man to work without pay for more than a decade.

David Daniel Doran Jr, 43, was on trial at Cardiff Crown Court accused of forcing Darrell Simester to look after his horses at Cariad Farm, Peterstone, when he changed his plea to guilty.

Judge Neil Bidder said: "The way you treated Darrell Simester has fortunately been recognised as repellent and wrong by civilised societies in modern times.

"You provided him with a roof over his head and food but in truth you did not treat him better than a slave."

Doran Jr admitted on October 8 that he knew or ought to have known that Mr Simester, 45, was being required to perform such labour against his will.

His father, Daniel Doran Sr, 67, who was also standing trial for the same offence, had the charge against him dropped following his son’s guilty plea.

Mr Simester spent 13 years at the farm working 15 hour days and living in a rat-infested shed.

In that time he only had two days off, once to visit a fair in Brecon and another for a New Year’s Eve night out.

When he was found in February 2013, Mr Simester was suffering from a number of health issues including a tennis ball sized hernia in his groin, a lump on his back and dental problems.

He had been living in poor conditions, using a broken outdoor toilet and washing in an animal trough.

He had disappeared following a holiday with a Kidderminster family to Porthcawl in 2000.

His family told the court that they received intermittent phone calls from Mr Simester over the 13 years, which eventually stopped.

Doran Jr was sentenced for forcing Mr Simester to work between April 6 2010, when the legislation dealing with the offence was brought in, and March 1, 2013.

He will serve half of his sentence before being released on licence.