CCTV footage from an Oxford travellers’ site has shown a man who was allegedly kept as a slave being pushed around and treated “like a ragdoll”.

Nick Iliff, 51, who has severe learning difficulties, told Oxford Crown Court yesterday he repeatedly tried to escape from Redbridge Hollow in Old Abingdon Road but was stopped.

Christopher Joyce, 81, and his three children Mary, 59, Timothy, 44, and Helen Collins, 44, all deny conspiring to hold Mr Iliff in servitude and conspiring to require him to perform forced labour.

Mr Joyce and his daughters also deny conspiracy to defraud Mr Iliff of what the prosecution say was more than £100,000 in benefits over several years.

Prosecution barrister Rachel Drake played CCTV footage showing Mary Joyce and Helen Collins pushing Mr Iliff around the site.

The first clip, from October 2014, showed Mr Iliff trying to walk off the site following an argument with members of the family.

He said: “I wanted to get away, I wanted to leave the site because all of them shouted at me and hit me all the time.”

The footage showed Helen Collins taking Mr Iliff by the arm and walking him inside a static caravan, followed by him trying to climb out a window.

Ms Drake asked him what he was doing in the clip and he said: “I was trying to escape through the window to walk off the site.

“I was feeling annoyed and distressed – you see the way they treat me like a ragdoll.”

He added: “I was trying to get away from the place but they wouldn’t let me.”

Another clip from September 2014 showed Mr Iliff walking off the site, but Ms Drake said Timothy later went and picked him up in a car and drove him back.

Mr Iliff said: “I was still a bit upset and nervous. If I got into the car and went back all the trouble might start again, hitting me and pushing me around.”

The Joyces claim that they treated Mr Iliff as a part of the family, and he admitted he called Christopher Joyce “dad” and his wife Winny, now deceased, “mum”.

Timothy Joyce’s defence barrister Elizabeth Marsh yesterday said her client was like a brother to Mr Iliff.

Timothy Joyce was eight years old when the Joyces first gave Mr Iliff a home in one of their caravans when he was about 15.

As he got older, Miss Marsh said the pair would go to pubs in Headington together and when people asked Mr Iliff “who’s that?”, the young Timmy would reply “that’s my brother”.

She said: “That’s how it was between you”, and Mr Iliff replied “yes”.

Mr Iliff has been appearing to the court via a video link from a secret location with an intermediary to help him understand proceedings.

The trial continues next week.