A father and son who kept the wages of their enslaved staff and spent the money on a lavish lifestyle have been forced to pay almost £80,000 in compensation.

Petr Makula, 50, from Dover , claimed he could not afford to pay the men recruited by his son Mario, 28, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, despite both men posting photographs on social media of themselves on holiday in Dubai and with expensive cars and jewellery.

The workers Mario enticed into the county were promised a better life in the United Kingdom but were instead forced to share a single property with limited access to central heating or hot water, and virtually no money to spend.

Both men were jailed in July 2019 after being found guilty of multiple offences relating to human trafficking and modern slavery.

Petr was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years, and Mario to four-and-a-half years.

An investigation into their available assets was carried out using legislation under the Proceeds of Crime Act, and on Thursday, October 22, a judge at Canterbury Crown Court ordered that £73,608 be confiscated from Mario and returned to the victims, and a further £4,739 from Petr.

Any further assets obtained by either man in the future can also be confiscated up to a total of £218,731 from Mario and just over £1 million from Petr, which is how much both men are believed to have benefited from their crimes.

Petr Makula ran his own employment agency named Kladrom which was sub-contracted by a Romney Marsh-based company to recruit people to work in its tile factory.

But most of the money earned by his workforce was instead spent on himself and his family.

A large number of exploited workers were identified dating back to 2007, and eight gave evidence against the Makulas during their trial.

The jury heard how many of the victims were vulnerable and living on the streets when they were taken advantage of and lured to the UK with the promise of work and good wages.

But upon their arrival they were provided with substandard accommodation at a property in Dover that would house up to 19 people at a time, some of whom had no choice but to sleep on the floor. There was also limited washing facilities.

Petr Makula controlled the pay of all of his workers and gave them different amounts every week, but always a lot less than what they were entitled to. The cost of accommodation was also taken out of their wages, with the living wage of one worker calculated as being less than 50p an hour.

Detective Inspector Annie Clayton of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said: "Petr and Mario Makula withheld the wages of their enslaved workers so it is only right that the money confiscated from them is now returned to the victims in compensation.

"They were forced to carry out backbreaking work in exchange for virtually no money and terrible living conditions, so it would be unacceptable for the Makulas to continue to have access to their illegally-earned finances after they are eventually released from prison.

"This is yet another great example of how the Proceeds of Crime Act is regularly used to ensure criminals are left under no illusion that crime does not pay in the long run."

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