A man who used an underground room at his Highland house to abuse vulnerable women received the first global travel ban in Scottish legal history.
Kevin Booth – once described as a millionaire -racing -tipster – recruited women from the UK and abroad to come to Lochdhu Lodge in AltnaBreac and so -called ‘penalty’ to them.
Wick Sheriff Court has heard that the lodge is inaccessible by public transport in a ‘remote place’.
Inside a building in the lodge, a Valdoor led to an underground room with a 60 -meter -curved concrete tunnel with an empty coffin, life -sized Egyptian figures and a metal bank.
In a written verdict published on Tuesday, Sheriff Neil Wilson wrote about how Booth abused the women and filmed the attacks.
Describe one of the 13 videos played before the court noted: “This video shows the red and black metal contrast in the tomb area of Lochdhu.
“A young black woman is handcuffed in a kneeling position. The defender tells her that she is being punished for the way she spoke to him.
“He tells her to learn her lesson. She seems to be scared. She screams and cries.
“She tries to get away repeatedly, but is handcuffed on the bench. The defender swap implements and still hits her.
“She’s hysterical. She cries that it is painful. The defender tells her to “pray for the power to take it properly”.
“It continues for the duration of the video: 18 minutes. It seems to be nothing but torture.
“She’s tied to the contraction while the defender beats her. She is apparently terrified and tries to escape, but not. ‘
Booth’s actions at the Lodge urged Sir Iain Livingstone, then the chief constable of the police Scotlandto put a civil action against him in the Wick Sheriff Court.
Police advocates have asked Sheriff Wilson to accept an order for human trafficking and exploitation for five years in terms of section 26 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act (Scotland) 2015.
They told the court that Booth was busy between 1998 and December 2022 with a ‘consistent behavioral course to recruit women, both from the United Kingdom and abroad’ for the purposes of ‘they isolate them, whether in Lochdhu Lodge .. .
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According to the advocates, police cannot monitor Booth when he traveled outside the UK, and argued that the best way to reduce the risk he poses to women was to ban him from traveling outside the country.
Sheriff Wilson agreed and accepted such an order – the first to be granted in Scottish legal history.
Booth must surrender all passports and notify the police 14 days before the appointment of a female employee.
Police must be notified in advance of female visitors and officers can do unannounced welfare tests at his properties.
Sheriff Wilson said Booth “enjoys attacking his victims” and justified them as “penalties”.
He added: “Given the evidence provided by the pursuer, I had no trouble concluding that the defender, continuously over many years, was engaged in a behavioral course that entailed the target of financially vulnerable women He then forced in the submission not to be abused, and thus doing dedicated acts of human trafficking and exploitation.
‘I would go so far as to describe the evidence as overwhelming, and that the totality of the evidence presented by the pursuit of the detailed in the form of videos, Skype messages, documents and testimonial explanations does not draw any other conclusions.
‘The testimony of Mr. Booth’s ominous conduct, as presented in court, was sometimes completely disturbing.
“The graphic video material, combined with the context and background supported by documentary evidence in various forms, was a level of cruelty and depravity, which, although it is extreme, can only hope it is rare.”
