THE president of the the National Association of Memorial Masons yesterday defended an Oxford traveller family accused of forcing a man to work for them.

Johan Else, managing director of Thomas Cakebread masons in Banbury, told Oxford Crown Court he befriended the Joyces when they asked him to make a memorial stone for mother of the family Winnie Joyce.

Recalling his visits to the family in Redbridge Hollow, he supported what the family have always maintained – that the man they are accused of exploiting for decades, Nicholas Iliff, was treated more like a son and brother.

Mr Else recalled how he was introduced to "He-Man" – Iliff's nickname – as one of many brothers and sisters living at the site.

He told how, when he was designing Winnie Joyce's memorial stone, head of the family Christopher "Christie" Joyce, 82, told him that He-Man would have a space for his own personal message where he could have written whatever he liked.

Mr Iliff asked the masons to write "Thinking of you mum, from He-Man", which is still engraved on the stone today.

Pensioner Joyce and his daughters Mary Joyce, 60, and Helen Collins, 46, all deny one count of forced or compulsory labour.

The court previously heard how Mr Iliff, who is now in his 50s, regarded Christopher and Winnie Joyce as his "mum and dad" and considered himself their adopted son ever since he moved in with the family aged 15 and started doing odd jobs for them.

The Crown Prosecution Service claims the family took advantage of Mr Iliff's learning difficulties to force him to work.

Mr Else told the court yesterday that when he visited the family two months ago to carry out standard maintenance work on Winnie Joyce's memorial stone, "Obviously He-Man was still there on the memorial, they still see him as their brother."