Travel ban for Altnabreac man who 'tortured' women

[backontrack]

content warning — gender-based violence, domestic abuse, human trafficking, child abuse

Travel ban for man who abused women in Highland dungeon

The first order of its kind to be imposed by a Scottish court prevents Kevin Booth from leaving the UK for five years.

www.bbc.com

A man who abused vulnerable women in an underground chamber at his Highland home has been given the first worldwide travel ban to be imposed by a Scottish court.
Kevin Booth, who is in his 60s, carried out "punishment beatings" using whips, canes and riding crops at his Lochdhu Lodge in Altnabreac, a small community in Caithness.
A court ruling said he had carried out "a systematic course of conduct of acts of human trafficking and exploitation" over many years.
The travel ban, which was approved after Police Scotland raised a civil action, prevents Booth from travelling outside the UK for the next five years.

The court heard that Booth filmed his attacks, including one 18-minute video of a terrified woman who tried to escape but was unable to do so.
The attack was described as being "nothing other than torture".

Police raised the action at Wick Sheriff Court to secure the travel ban under human trafficking and exploitation legislation.
Booth travelled regularly abroad and recruited economically vulnerable women in a number of countries, including South Africa, Dubai, Sri Lanka and Philippines, then paid for them to travel to the UK.
His assaults at Lochdhu Lodge were carried out in a chamber, accessed via a trapdoor and a 60m (197ft) concrete tunnel, which contained an empty coffin, life-size ancient Egyptian figures and a metal bench.
Some women were restrained by handcuffs and video showed them in extreme distress and pain, the judgement said.
Booth's violence also involved the use of belts and wooden brushes in what the sheriff described as punishment beatings.

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Sheriff Neil Wilson said Booth had committed acts of human trafficking and exploitation over many years.
He described the evidence which had been presented in court as "utterly harrowing".
"The graphic video footage, combined with the context and background provided by supporting documentary evidence in various forms, was redolent of a level of cruelty and depravity which, whilst extreme, one can only hope is rare," he said.
In addition to the travel ban, he ordered that Booth must notify police in advance of hiring any woman as a housekeeper or to any other role at his home.
Booth had been charged with assaulting children in his care at a school in 1991 and left the UK in an attempt to evade justice, but later returned.
In 1994 he was convicted after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court of five charges of assaulting children and a further charge of failing to surrender to bail.
He was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, suspended for two years.
In 2002, Booth was convicted following a trial at Bradford Crown Court of indecently assaulting his Brazilian au pair and was sentenced to two years in jail.

Not the most important part of this story, but I'm sure people here will have read Dixe Wills' book Tiny Stations, an exploration of request stops that led to a Paul Merton-anchored TV series? In the Altnabreac chapter, Wills went to Lochdhu and met 'Brian' (Kevin Booth), whom he described as rather sinister. And Kevin took him down the trapdoor to see the chamber — including the Egyptian figures and the sarcophagus. I remember reading that as a teenager so to see it be front-page news on the BBC website is rather chilling.

Anyway the fact that this man has avoided jail time is just incomprehensible.

This isn't the ex-policeman by the station, by the way: this is a different individual, one of the scant few who live or lived in the area around Altnabreac.

 

[Ace Of Pacer]

I just read the BBC news story, including description of Egyptian chamber, it felt very familiar, and then recalled Tiny Stations. My recollection is that Dixe Wills conveyed a chilling quality to this chap without any idea, presumably, about his crimes. Shocking.

 

[Iskra]

Altnabreac must be up there with the Pitcairn Islands for highest offending rate per capita at this rate.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

The remoteness of the location must attract pervs like him. Up there, there's no one to hear you scream...

 

[David M]

Arguably not dissimilar to Jimmy Saville having his house in the middle of nowhere - was it Glencoe somewhere, can't remember?

 

[Purple Train]

I just read the BBC news story, including description of Egyptian chamber, it felt very familiar, and then recalled Tiny Stations. My recollection is that Dixe Wills conveyed a chilling quality to this chap without any idea, presumably, about his crimes. Shocking.

Tiny Stations is one of my all-time favourite books. Reading the chapter about "Brian" in the light of the revelations this year is particularly poignant - in keeping with the tone of the book, I get the sense that Wills was making the man seem chilling with his tongue firmly in cheek, only now we know him for a monster hiding in plain sight.

 

[Ianigsy]

What on earth are they putting in the water up there?

 

[negone]

He ran a horse racing betting tips service and also supplied female escorts and glamour models to his horse racing clients at race courses "claims to have members of the Royal Family and Parliament among his clientele."

Tipster jailed for assault on au pair

www.telegraph.co.uk

A MILLIONAIRE racing tipster who threatened to horsewhip his Brazilian au pair if she refused to have sex with him was jailed for two years yesterday.
Kevin Booth was convicted of indecently assaulting the 27-year-old woman, who was recruited over the internet to look after his two young children. Booth, who claims to have members of the Royal Family and Parliament among his clientele, threatened to thrash his victim with a riding crop if she refused his advances.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

He ran a horse racing betting tips service and also supplied female escorts and glamour models to his horse racing clients at race courses "claims to have members of the Royal Family and Parliament among his clientele."

The Telegraph
Tipster jailed for assault on au pair
By Thomas Penny 03 April 2001 • 12:00am
A MILLIONAIRE racing tipster who threatened to horsewhip his Brazilian au pair if she refused to have sex with him was jailed for two years yesterday.
Kevin Booth was convicted of indecently assaulting the 27-year-old woman, who was recruited over the internet to look after his two young children. Booth, who claims to have members of the Royal Family and Parliament among his clientele, threatened to thrash his victim with a riding crop if she refused his advances.

Before that he ran a private school, closed down with charges of applying 'excessive discipline'.

Arguably not dissimilar to Jimmy Saville having his house in the middle of nowhere - was it Glencoe somewhere, can't remember?

Yes it was Glencoe. Now under new ownership with planning permission to demolish and rebuild.

 

[styles]

Arguably not dissimilar to Jimmy Saville having his house in the middle of nowhere - was it Glencoe somewhere, can't remember?

Yes, Glencoe area. Demolition and redevelopment started a month ago after years of it being a target for vandals.

Shame in some ways as the cottage previously belonged to Dr Hamish MacInnes, a legend and pioneer in the world of mountain rescue and winter mountaineering.

Alas, the right decision given the eye sore it has become and the behaviour the building had attracted of late.