Since my last post I have read two newspaper articles which show even more the dishonesty of police performing raids on brothels. These two articles say that in the trial of Carl Pritchett, convicted of running Cuddles brothel, the police withheld evidence that prostitutes were not coerced.
Stourbridge News: "At Wolverhampton Crown Court, Judge Michael Dudley said paperwork suggested police had not disclosed a witness statement to Carl Pritchett that suggested prostitutes were working at Cuddles voluntarily. The judge said: “There is information in there undermining the conviction, that the police were in possession of a statement revealing people were working in these premises voluntarily 16 days before the raid took place.” He said police had stressed the raid was an organised operation to rescue women who had been trafficked into the United Kingdom to work in the sex market."
Express & Star: "A judge said he was "greatly distressed" by the claim that officers did not disclose a witness statement in the case of Carl Pritchett, which suggested prostitutes were working at the Cuddles Massage Parlour in Bearwood voluntarily."
Judge Michael Dudley also said it is 'blatant non-disclosure'. The police told the judge that they had rescued women, which is not true.
Carl Pritchett was given a two year sentence in 2006 for running Cuddles. In 2010 he was sentenced to another seven years because he could not hand over two million pounds. This is the amount that Pritchett is supposed to have made from running the brothel. This answers the question that I asked in a previous post of mine. Sandra Hankin and two men ran the 'Sandys Superstars' brothels in Manchester. She was told to pay two hundred thousand pounds. I asked what would happen if she couldn't pay. Would she go to prison?
The Express & Star article said that Cuddles brothel had an average of 490 clients per week. If there were 19 sex workers there that means each had about 26 clients per week. If they worked 5 shifts per week that means about 5 clients per shift. That's completely different from "submitting to sexual abuse from 30 strangers a day" which is what Catherine Bennett wrote in her article. Another Guardian article stated that migrant sex workers are "made to have sex with up to 40 men a day". This is what the police are telling journalists. They are not rescuing women though, just the opposite, that is a lie.
The only legal basis for removing the 19 women from the premises was assessing their immigration status. They were not doing anything illegal by being prostitutes. To pretend that they needed to be rescued was wrong. The police detained 6 of the women for deportation and later withheld evidence that the women worked there voluntarily.
These are the two articles quoted in this post:-
Stourbridge News Jailed Black Country vice boss may be freed 14/07/2011
Express & Star Evidence withheld over Cuddles brothel case 13/07/2011
These are the four articles quoted in my previous post:-
Guardian Raid on brothel smashes prostitution ring 30/09/2005
Independent Joan Smith: The ugly truth about 'Cuddles' 17/09/2005
Irish Times Women put under protection after raid on brothel 01/10/05
BBC News 19 women rescued from 'brothel' 30/09/05
This is the Catherine Bennett article in the Guardian
Guardian It's all very well condemning the sex traffickers, but what about the punters who keep the trade going? 20/10/2005
Emily Kenway's book is called The Truth About Modern Slavery
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