Sexual offences case report
Case report: Sexual offences: Brothel Keeping
Solicitor:
Nigel Richardson, Partner and Head of Criminal
Defence Team
Our client who was running an escort agency described by police
to be ‘a model of its kind’, was charged after calling the police
after two men had broken in and threatened a woman
working for the agency.
The agency was known to the police and appeared to be condoned,
however when the police arrived to deal with the attack, they
instead arrested our client for money laundering and managing
a brothel. Our client, a mother with two small
children, faced the prospect of prison, despite the fact her agency
had no connections with drugs or trafficking and all the women
working there were fully consenting adults.
We mounted complex abuse of process arguments relating to the
passive encouragement given to the sex industry by police and the
authorities and, in this case specifically, the assurances given to
the defendants that they would not be prosecuted. As a
result our client was acquitted.
Back to case
reports