A VIOLENT gang ran an extortion racket against Polish workers who were living in Hereford, a jury heard.

The victims were asked to hand over up to £200 to fix them a job in a factory or on a farm.

But once they began collecting wages, they faced demands backed-up by threats for more cash, said prosecutor Jonathan Gosling.

Two men who upset the Polish gang over payments ended up in hospital with severe injuries, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Marcin Walus suffered a fractured jaw and Robert Szymezak had an eye socket broken in a baseball bat attack.

A third witness Pawel Makowski was threatened that if he gave evidence at trial he would be killed, it was alleged.

In the dock are four men and a woman, all from Hereford.

They are: Krzysztof Wojcik, 28, of Marlowe Drive; Kamil Siegien, 30, of Conisby Street; Michal Zubrzycki, 19, of Ledbury Road; Jaroslaw Wysiecki, 23, of Grenfell Road; Jolanta Witczak, 41, of Kingsway.

The men all deny conspiracy to blackmail between March and December 2007.

Zubrzycki also denies two charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Walus and Mr Szymczak in December 2007.

And Witczak pleads not guilty to witness intimidation of Mr Makowski between April and July this year.

Mr Gosling told the jury: "This was a campaign of blackmail and intimidation. They acted like a gang of thugs to collect money.

"There were other people on the periphery who should be in the dock too."

One of those, he said, was Zdzislaw Drezek who fled back to Poland after he became aware of the police investigation.

A search of his Hereford home revealed the TV still on and a cigarette smouldering in the ashtray.

He was arrested in Poland but granted bail and then disappeared.

Mr Gosling said around 20 incidents took place in the city.

The gang knew that people in a strange land were unfamiliar with legal and police procedures.

They also feared the consequences of reporting crime and one victim, asked for £100, received a text message which read: "I'm not scared of the police. I will break your bones."

The victims were on low wages and strapped for cash, said Mr Gosling. But if they failed to meet payment deadlines, they suffered "a penal rate of interest" and threats.

But in December last year the two victims of severe violence decided to go to police.

And at series of identification procedures, most witnesses picked out gang members.

Witczak, who is a grandmother, is alleged to have warned Mr Makowski: "When they come out (of prison) they will kill you. They will kill all people who are going to court."

The trial continues and is expected to last six weeks.