Abstracts: January 2004

January 5, 2004
Soho King Pimp faces jail
According to this article:
On this date, Oscar Owide, 72, a businessman once dubbed "Britain's biggest pimp" admitted running four companies illegally.   Owide pleaded guilty to four charges of acting as a director of the companies while disqualified. He had run the Stork Club in Swallow Street, Soho for f6 months (up to May 2002) with Piers Adam, the chef and club owner. Adam and  Marco Pierre White, Owide's former business partner, had been expected to give evidence in his trial which had been due to start on this date until Owide changed his plea to guilty at  Blackfriars Crown Court and was due to be sentenced later by Judge John Samuels.  He faces up to two years' jail or an unlimited fine or both. 

The four companies involved are: Pearl Dan Ltd, Lincity Ltd, Perfect Burger Company Ltd and Fordingstone Ltd. Owide had originally faced an indictment naming eight companies in charges under the Company Directors' Disciplinary Act.  The court was told on this date that the guilty pleas had been tendered subject to written conditions handed to the Judge. 

Owide, of St John's Wood, was described as "Britain's biggest pimp" after running hostess bars, lap dancing clubs and restaurants for three decades.  Allegedly his favourite boast was that the moment he met a prospective hostess he could tell just how far she'd be prepared to go in order to secure a job at one of his clubs. 

He allegedly made a fortune through pimping, routine flouting of company law and putting his companies into liquidation owing tens of thousands of pounds to creditors and reopening them within the hour. In the 1960s, Hollywood stars, politicians and aristocrats were allegedly lured into his nightclubs by the mix of easy sex and underworld tinged with glamour. Allegedly one wealthy customer paid £8,000 to a prostitute and another sent a servant to bring up to eight girls at a time to his suite at the Dorchester. 

In 2002 Owide attempted to turn his businesses into up-market, respectable nightclubs. He went into business with Pierre White and Adam. Owide was prepared to turn the Stork Club and the Crazy Horse in Swallow Street into a club called the Stork Rooms but the publicity and reports about his past caused the Dept. of Trade and Industry to investigate whether Owide was running his old firms despite being struck off.

• Cheston, Paul and Nigel Rosser. "Soho King Pimp faces jail" Evening Standard. Jan. 5, 2004.
  http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/
  articles/8449559?version=1

January 7, 2004
Chef's former business partner fined £200,000 
According to this article:
Oscar Owide, once dubbed "Britain's biggest pimp" was fined £200,000 on Jan. 6 for illegally running a string of companies while being disqualified as a company director. His interests included Bentley's Seafood Restaurant, nightclubs, hostess bars and lapdancing clubs. The judge at Blackfriars crown court said Mr. Owide only escaped jail because of his age and ill health and because he was led to believe by the pretrial judge that pleading guilty would guarantee his freedom. Owide's notoriety is based on press exposes re: prostitution at his West End clubs.

• Wilson, Jamie."Chef's former business partner fined £200,000". The Guardian. Jan. 7, 2004.
  <http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/
  0,3604,1117516,00.html>

January 7, 2004
Top chef's ex-business partner is fined over company law
According to this article:
Oscar Owide was fined £200,000 yesterday for illegally running companies by using  his son and a senior employee as front men to breach a court order and continue managing the companies in the West London. Past convictions include an 18-month prison term for VAT fraud in 1989 and a court order not to serve as a director after being struck off in February 2000. In 2002, in partnership with Mr White and Piers Adam, Owide turned the Stork Club and the Crazy Horse in central London into a club called the Stork Rooms.

Further details of Owide's illegal actions are provided in this article.

• Beard, Matthew. "Top chef's ex-business partner is fined over company law" Irish Independent Jan. 7, 2004.
   

January 12, 2004
'15 sexploitation victims just tip of iceberg'
According to this article:
Figures released on this date claim that fifteen foreign women were brought into Ireland last year for sexual exploitation. Ruhama said the figure was just the tip of the iceberg. Acting director Geraldine Rowley said they had helped at least 70 foreign women in 2003, many of whom worked as lap-dancers. Rowley called for tougher legislation to crack down on people-traffickers and urged people not to support the industry.

Nine women and one man were arrested the previous weekend in an Operation Quest raid on a Dublin lap-dancing club. Nine were released without charge, one woman was  detained pending deportation.

• '15 sexploitation victims just tip of iceberg' online.ie. Jan 12, 2004.

January 12, 2004
Preposterous lap dance rule can't be imposed says human rights group
According to this article:
The Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition said the Wakefield Council regulation keeping dancers at least 12 inches away from customers is absurd because it can't be enforced. Greg Carlin, from the group, said the regulation is unenforceable and expressed concern that dancers from other areas with rules requiring greater distances could be forced into dangerous proximity to customers. A spokesman for Wakefield Council's licensing section said that the new conditions were produced after comprehensive investigation into those used by other authorities and that CCTV coverage and visits by licensing officers would enable them to closely monitor the 12 inch rule.

• "Preposterous lap dance rule can't be imposed says human rights group" Wakefield Today. Jan 12, 2004.

January 12, 2004
Lap dancers released after swoop on club 
Irish Independent
Charlie Mallon 

Abstract to follow.

January 12, 2004
10 arrested in raid on lap dancing club
Irish Examiner
Cormac O’Keeffe

Abstract to follow.

January 12, 2004
Ulster dancer held in Dublin raid
According to this article:
An Ulster dancer was among a number of people arrested after gardai raided a Dublin club at the weekend. Eight foreign national lap dancers and a Russian man arrested in a Garda swoop Jan. 11th have been released. A Nigerian had already been the subject of a deportation order and was detained pending repatriation, while investigations are continuing into the status of the others. The raid on the Honeyz club, Capel Street was was part of the ongoing Operation Quest, under which similar clubs have been raided nationwide. When gardai raided the club, there were 18 dancers present and six customers - a party of Scandinavians and an Englishman. The dancers were from Northern Ireland, the Republic, England, Eastern Europe, South Africa and Nigeria.

• Mallon, Charlie. "Ulster dancer held in Dublin raid" Belfast Telegraph. Jan. 12, 2004.

January 13, 2004
Judge refuses lapdancing club permission to open this weekend
According to this article:
The Honeyz lap-dancing club in Dublin was closed after a raid by Gardai last weekend and a number of people were arrested in an ongoing investigation into alleged human trafficking from Eastern European countries. Owners have expressed their disappointment following a decision by a judge to deny them permission to re-open this weekend. A Garda inspector said the owners of the club had told him "a pack of lies" during investigations. Dublin District Court upheld the Garda's objection and refused permission for the club to open on a temporary basis. A full hearing of the case has been put back until March 2004.

• "Judge refuses lapdancing club permission to open this weekend" The Best Irish Website. Jan. 13, 2004.

January 13, 2004
May Day Sex
Daily Mirror
Damien Lane

Abstract to follow.
 

January 14, 2004
Raided lapdancing club's legal bid fails
RTE

Abstract to follow.

January 15, 2004
Pint and a porn role!
Evening Mail
Jim Guthrie

Abstract to follow.
 

• http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/?objectid=
  13820430&method=full&siteid=50002/

January 17, 2004
Foreign 'students' in lapdance sex traffic
Irish Independent
Kathy Donaghy

Abstract to follow.
 

January 17, 2004
Snatched from home with the promise of riches 
Irish Independent

Abstract to follow.

January 18, 2004
Dublin clamps down on trafficking of women for growing sex trade
Scotland on Sunday
Nicola Byrne in Dublin

Abstract to follow.

January 19, 2004
Euro sex biz battle?
Reuters 

Abstract to follow.

January 20, 2004
MEP urges study of sexual behaviour of men 
Irish Examiner 
Geoff Meade, Brussels

Abstract to follow.